KL Rahul has been at the end of criticism from fans and experts for his batting over the last year or two . The former RCB batter is once again under the microscope for innings against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday. The skipper scored a slow 39 in 32 balls with a strike rate of 121.88 which included a maiden first over when he faced Trent Boult. Kevin Pietersen did not hesitate to criticize KL Rahul when he was doing the on air commentary. The former England batsman quoted “Watching KL Rahul bat in the powerplay is the most boring thing I’ve ever done.”
Not just Pietersen even the fans were not pleased with Rahul’s approach and performance against the Royals. Rahul’s opening partner Kyle Mayers also struggled to get going as he scored 52 off 42 balls. Stoinis and Pooran got them to 154 in the 20 overs. Lucknow went on to win the game by 10 runs with Avesh Khan picking up three wickets.
In the six innings so far the opener has scored 194 runs at a strike rate of 114.8 and an average of 32.3. That strike rate drops even further to 109.2 when he is playing in the powerplay and a dot percentage of 43.7%. This is in contrast to the currently popular approach of the openers where they take maximum advantage of the powerplay and the new ball.
Lucknow Super Giants now have won four matches and are second in the points table with eight points. Rahul and co will face Gujarat Titans on Saturday at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow.
