Shahrukh Khan Eyes KL Rahul for KKR in Blockbuster Trade Ahead of IPL 2026

KKR in contact with KL Rahul

According to the Times of India report, Kolkata Knight Riders have contacted KL Rahul regarding this. The franchise has also expressed its desire. However, even if Rahul agrees, this deal will not be easy. There are many difficulties regarding this deal. The source said, 'It is very difficult for this deal to happen, because KKR does not have anyone at the moment in exchange for whom they can trade KL Rahul.'

Abhishek Nair going to play a key role

The team's assistant coach Abhishek Nair has an important role behind this move of KKR. Abhishek was also a part of Team India's coaching staff till some time back. During the IPL last year, KL Rahul had credited Nair for his success. He said, 'I have worked a lot on my white ball cricket in the last one year. The credit for this goes to Abhishek Nair. Ever since he has come to Team India, I have worked a lot with him. We used to talk about batting for many hours. We also worked a lot on my batting in Mumbai.'

The last season was not good for KKR. The changes made in the mega auction cost them heavily. The team released its champion captain Shreyas Iyer and the same Iyer took Punjab Kings to the final in the 2025 season. KKR's team could not even make it to the playoffs. They finished 8th in the points table. The team spent the most money on Venkatesh Iyer in the auction. KKR spent Rs 23 crore 75 lakh for Iyer. However, Iyer's performance was not very impressive.

Changes have been made in the KKR team

After this performance, the team now wants a change. They have released their current head coach Chandrakant Pandit. Pandit was with the team for three seasons and was also a part of the 2024 victory. KKR also ended the contract with bowling coach Bharat Arun. Bharat Arun has joined Lucknow Super Giants for the next season.

Mega trade can happen with Delhi Capitals, KL Rahul was bought by Delhi Capitals for ₹14 crores in the IPL 2025 auction. He captained Lucknow Super Giants for three seasons and also performed brilliantly during that time. Now there are reports that Shahrukh Khan's co-owned KKR team is trying to trade him from Delhi.

Rahul fits in KKR's new strategy, Kolkata team could not perform as expected in the last season. Due to this, the franchise is now in the mood to make big changes in its team. The franchise has already parted ways with coaching staff like Chandrakant Pandit and Bharat Arun. Now by bringing KL Rahul, the franchise wants to solve many of its important issues.

Solution to the problem of wicketkeeping and opening, KKR had wicketkeeper-openers like Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz last season, but both could not score runs consistently. Rahul can fill this gap as he is an experienced wicketkeeper as well as a reliable opener.

He will definitely bring Captaincy experience, Last season, KKR was captained by Ajinkya Rahane, but he too could not make an impact. In such a situation, by bringing Rahul, the team can get a captain who has a lot of experience of both international and IPL.

Rahul's IPL performance has been excellent, KL Rahul has been playing IPL since 2013, but since 2018 his bat has been spewing runs continuously. He has scored more than 600 runs four times and more than 500 runs three times. In IPL 2025, he scored 539 runs in 13 matches, including a century and three half-centuries.

Will Rahul be the next captain of KKR? If this trade is completed, KL Rahul will not only be seen as a batsman and wicketkeeper, but there is a possibility that he may also be handed over the captaincy of the team. Now it remains to be seen how Delhi Capitals respond to this proposal and whether Rahul really becomes a part of Shahrukh Khan's team.