Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer slams KL Rahul over his batting approach in the ongoing IPL 2023 after the match against RCB.
Wasim Jaffer Slams KL Rahul
Though Lucknow Super Giants managed to beat RCB in their backyard, the skipper KL Rahul receives back-to-back criticism over his batting approach. KL Rahul managed to score only 18 runs in the 212-run chase against RCB.
KL Rahul only scored 81 runs in the 4 matches played so far at a strike rate of just 100. Since 2020, KL Rahul scored 600+ runs in every IPL season.
With Nicholas Pooran’s fastest half-century of the season and Stoinis’ 30 balls 65 runs, LSG managed to register a nervy one-wicket win.
“I am surprised. It was a bit painful as well. When you are chasing 213 and you are the captain, you need to lead from the front,” Jaffer told the media.
“Rahul will have to change his intent. LSG have a very good batting line-up. In the current team, Krunal Pandya hasn’t fired yet, same with Deepak Hooda. Also, there is a lot of depth in the batting. He will need to show some intent because the team has really good back-ups. It’s not like LSG would not be able to score runs if Rahul gets out,” he added.
Jaffer pointed out that Rahul sometimes take some extra time to get settled which put some added pressure on the other batters to take risks.
“We have seen Rahul play blazing knocks, but sometimes in franchise cricket, he takes up a little too much time. That puts pressure on the non-striker and the players in the dugout as well. The other batters thus have to take unnecessary risks. Rahul can play attacking cricket. It’s just that he needs to bat with more positive intent,” he said.
However, after the match, the LSG skipper defended his timid approach saying that the early wickets forced him to bat cautiously and play according to the situation.
“Not ideal for me, I want to score more runs and get the strike rate up as well. We’ve played on two tough Lucknow wickets, and today we lost 3 wickets so I went slower. I wanted to stay till the end and play with Nicky,” Rahul said in the post-match presentation.
LSG currently leads the IPL 2023 points table and will play their next match of the season against Punjab Kings on April 15 at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
