[1] He is the fastest batsman in the world to score a century across all three formats of international cricket, taking only twenty innings.

His father Lokesh, who hails from Kannanur in Magadi, is a professor and former director at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK)[3][4] in Mangalore.

[10][11][12] On 23 January 2023, Rahul married his long-time girlfriend, actress Athiya Shetty, after dating for more than three years.

In the same season, he represented his country at the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scoring 143 runs in the competition.

Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring 337 against Uttar Pradesh.

[17] He went on to score 188 in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu and finished the season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.

In the next test at Sydney where he opened the innings for the first time, and made his maiden international century, scoring 110 runs.

He became the first player to score a T20I century while batting at number four in a one-run defeat while in pursuit of 246, the highest T20I run chase at that time.

[25] On 11 January 2019, Hardik Pandya and Rahul were suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following misogynistic comments they made on the Indian talk show Koffee with Karan earlier in the month.

[30][31] He played at number 4 in the first two games but got back to opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma when Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury.

In January 2020, Rahul made 80 (52) batting at number five in the second ODI against Australia and was rewarded as the man of the match.

As Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal were injured, Rahul opened alongside Rohit Sharma.

Despite his best efforts, Rahul couldn't lead the team to victory, and India lost the second Test by seven wickets.

In February 2022, during the second ODI of India against the West Indies, Rahul scored 49 (48) and completed 6000 runs in international cricket across all formats.

[42] Rahul was named captain for the South African tour of India in June, but was later ruled out of the series due to a groin injury.

[43] After a successful sports hernia surgery, Rahul came back to the team and was named captain for the India Tour of Zimbabwe in August.

[46] Due to poor form, in February 2023 he was removed from the Test vice-captaincy, with his spot in the team questioned.

He coincidentally broke the record held by Rohit Sharma who hit a century earlier of 63 deliveries in the tournament during India's match against Afghanistan.

[53] In the final against Australia, Rahul top scored in India's first innings with 66 runs off 107 balls as they struggled to 240 and were comfortably defeated by 6-wickets.

[57] In December 2023, during the first test match of the series between India and South Africa, Rahul scored his 8th test match century helping India to post a challenging first innings score of 245 during challenging batting conditions.

[66][67] Rahul scored a quick-fire 68 off just 62 deliveries in the rain-affected second test to help India secure a victory.

[71][72] Rahul started the series as an opener and managed to score two half centuries later he was sent to one-down in the last two matches.

[74][75] Rahul made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during the 2013 season.

[78] In the 2018 IPL auction, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab for INR 11 crore, the joint-third highest price.

In the team's first match of the season, he scored the fastest 50 in IPL history, taking 14 balls to reach the milestone and breaking the record of Sunil Narine.

He finished the season as third highest run scorer, and he was named in the Cricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI.

[87] Prior to the 2022 season, Rahul was drafted by Lucknow Super Giants as their captain for INR 17 crore, making him the joint highest paid cricketer in the IPL alongside Virat Kohli.

Rahul led his team to play-offs in the debut season for LSG but ended up losing to RCB in the eliminator.

[89] Rahul was retained as the captain for Lucknow Super Giants for 2023 season, but was ruled out of the tournament mid way after sustaining an injury while fielding in a match against RCB.

[91] Rahul was publicly criticised by the owner of Lucknow Super Giants after a humiliating loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in match no.