A right-handed wicket-keeper batter, he plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket. Rahul is the first and only Indian cricketer to score an ODI century on his debut. On the same tour, he made his T20I debut. Rahul was born on 18 April to K. Lokesh and Rajeshwari in Bangalore , Karnataka. His mother, Rajeshwari, is a professor at Mangalore University. Aloysius College. On 23 January , Rahul married his long-time girlfriend, actress Athiya Shetty , after dating for more than three years.
Rahul made his first-class cricket debut for Karnataka in the β11 season. Playing for South Zone in the final of the β15 Duleep Trophy against Central Zone, Rahul scored off balls in the first innings and off in the second.
He was named the player of the match and selected to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour followed. Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring against Uttar Pradesh.
He managed to score only 3 and 1 on his debut. In the next test at Sydney where he opened the innings for the first time, and made his maiden international century, scoring runs. He was named in the man squad for the Indian tour of Bangladesh in June but withdrew due to dengue. He returned to the side for the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, scoring his second Test century and winning the Man of the Match award.
During the match, he kept wicket after Wriddhiman Saha was injured. In the second series test, Rahul scored runs, his then-highest score in test cricket. In September , he was named in the squad for the home series against New Zealand. After the first test, he was replaced by Gautam Gambhir due to an injury. Rahul was selected in the squad against England in the Test series but was injured while training in the nets.
