Lucknow Super Giants might be among the favourites to go through to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs but all is not right with the franchise at the moment. Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has produced a couple of rescue acts in the middle, helping LSG remain in the top 4, but when it comes to the performances from the top-order, especially skipper Rahul, the franchise has been left wanting. Rahul, in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday where Lucknow were chasing a target of 236, could only score 25 off 21.
Australian cricket legend Brett Lee, mincing no words, feels Rahul’s approach at the top is putting a lot of pressure on LSG’s middle-order.
“I think if you look at both opening batters from both sides, it’s a complete contrast. KKR have got it right. They’re out of the blocks quickly, they’re scoring runs. And then you got KL Rahul on the other side, that’s, you know, getting a run a ball and putting a lot of pressure on the back end. You know, we saw four games and I picked KL Rahul here, the first four games he played,” he said on Jio Cinema.
“His strike rate was 129, then he went to 150 and now he’s come back and said, ‘well, yeah, you know the bowlers have done a great job. I think there’s a lot of pressure on him because he hasn’t scored the runs he should be,” Brett Lee added.
After the game, Rahul himself admitted that his team failed to click in all three departments of the game – batting, bowling and fielding.
“It was a lot of runs to be scored in the second innings. When you are chasing a big total, you are trying to go too hard and you end up losing wickets. Just a poor performance overall. We didn’t (hit our lengths on a consistent basis), just been a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field. Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, in the powerplay, we’ve seen how they bat and they do put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Our young bowlers couldn’t handle that kind of pressure and he hit some really good shots. That’s how IPL is, you come up against really good players and that’s when your character is tested. We weren’t up to the mark,” he said after the match.
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