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Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul had a horrible day at the office against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 8. Before Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went ballistic, Rahul let his team down with a 33-ball 29 which did not let LSG post a daunting total against an in-form SRH. Rahul’s approach was criticised by many including former Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Mitchell McClenaghan. The former New Zealand cricketer wants Rahul to wake up and stop thinking he is the only batter who can score runs to be able to play freely.
"If this doesn't wake KL up to the style of cricket he needs to play going forward to be successful and to continue playing for India, I don't know what will. He can do it. He has got to get past, very similar to what we've seen with Virat (Kohli), the feeling of ' You're the only person that can score runs'. And he's got to go, right, I need to score runs but if I am going to miss out, it's okay," McClenaghan said on ESPNcricinfo.
"Trust the other guys to do the job. It looks like he's carrying the whole team on his back thinking that if he doesn't bat the innings, they are not going to get a score. So, if he does get out like tonight, they're a long way behind where they need to be," he added.
Rahul’s slow knock against SRH
Rahul did not hit a single four in the powerplay overs. He hit a massive six off SRH captain Pat Cummins. As Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis departed for respective single-digit scores, Rahul slowed down. LSG could not capitalise in the powerplay overs and scored 27 runs. When Rahul lost his wicket to Cummins in the 10th over of the innings, LSG’s score was 57/3.
Rahul’s numbers in IPL 2024
While Rahul has scored 460 runs from 12 games at an average of 38.33 in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, his strike rate of 136.09 has been criticised by many. Moreover, his intent to go all guns blazing in the powerplay has been lacking.
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