Former English captain Kevin Pietersen reportedly said that watching Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul bat in the powerplay is the most boring thing that he has ever done during LSG’s match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Wednesday.
“Watching KL Rahul bat in powerplays is the most boring thing I have ever been through,” Pietersen mentioned, as Rahul crawled his way to a 32-ball 39 en route to Lucknow’s score of 154 in 20 overs. Rahul notched four boundaries along with a 103-meter six in his innings but treaded cautiously otherwise, which has been a constant feature in his batting form right throughout this campaign.
Rahul has scored 194 runs in six innings in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, he has struck runs at a part rate of 114.79 with only three maximums to his name.
On Wednesday though, Rahul’s scoring rate was reflective of the approach adopted by other batsmen as well. Even half-centurion Kyle Mayers got to his 51 runs in 42 deliveries in innings comprising four boundaries and three sixes. Royals’ destructive openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler too had to tone down their approach against LSG. Jaiswal scored 44 in 35 deliveries whereas Buttler took 41 deliveries to get to his 40 runs.
However, Rahul’s approach especially in the first six overs has arguably been a cause of concern right throughout the campaign. Yet, LSG fielding coach Jonty Rhodes refused to criticise the same in one of his media interactions a couple of days ago.
“When the captain is scoring runs, the way that he plays he lays a really good platform for others to play around them. We always knew that he was just one knock away. He’s been batting in the nets superbly. He’s not the kind of player anybody worries about because we always know it’s literally one inning away,” Rhodes mentioned.
(Edited by : Prakhar Sachdeo)
