Rahul was batting at a strike rate of close to 100 and 110 till 14th over which might have cost LSG the game, according to Manjrekar.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has come down hard at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul for his slow batting in the eliminator against RCB. Chasing 208 runs to win, Rahul scored 79 runs off 58 deliveries at a strike rate of 136.21 with three fours and five sixes. At the outset, the innings looks really good but he was striking in between 100 and 110 until the end of the 13th over after opening the innings.
Rahul looked to rotate the strike for the major part of the innings before unleashing in the last few overs. But with the required rate already above 14, it turned out to be too much even for him and the batters later to cover up in the death overs. Manjrekar pointed out that Rahul boasts of a strike rate of around 140 at the international level.
But when it comes to the IPL, he has suffered in that aspect, especially in the last couple of seasons when he has taken the responsibility and looked to bat through the innings. Manjrekar felt that Rahul is at his best when he plays as a pure batter and not as a captain batter. He also put the onus on Rahul for not taking his team home after batting for almost entire innings.
“I will put the onus on KL Rahul. It’s not just in this game, it is something that we have seen for the last two seasons. This is a guy who at the international level has a strike rate of 140. When he is just one of the many batters in the team. That’s when KL Rahul is at his best. We have seen enough of Rahul to now know that when he becomes the captain, the key player of the side, maybe he is not ready to take this kind of responsibility where he is the man who is got to get the job done.
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As a coach, I would tell him that I am not expecting him to win the game. Just go and have fun. That’s why I believe he has a much better strike rate at the international level. he intention is right, he wants to win the game for his side. But his strike rate was 120 till the 15th or 16th over. That’s dangerous, that’s leaving too much even for the likes of KL Rahul to do. Rahul scored 79 off 58, and Patidar had 112 off 54,” he said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
Sanjay Manjrekar also noted that Rahul used to do the same while he was leading the Punjab Kings. He felt a batter like Nicholas Pooran got only a few deliveries to show his potential due to his approach and suffered eventually. Coming back to his knock, Manjrekar also stated that Rajat Patidar scored runs at a strike rate of more than 200 after facing 4 balls less than Rahul.
“The thing with KL Rahul’s teams is there is no point in having them with one batter inclined to bat whole of the innings. We saw that with Punjab Kings as well. I used to feel sorry for Pooran who used to get only 6 or 8 balls to play. All those batters down there, Krunal Pandya, Stoinis, Lewis. If KL Rahul would’ve gotten out around 12th or 13th over at the same score, they would’ve come into the game a little more.
“I am sure they will win more matches like that. Yes, batting depth is needed, it’s good provided every batsman goes out to get a maximum of every ball. But if this one batter, and he batted 19 overs in this important game in that gear and that was going to make it tough for everyone,” Manjrekar added.
