Lucknow Super Giants captain, KL Rahul has been criticized by fans and experts for his slow scoring rate in the ongoing Indian Premier League despite having scored runs in the tournament. LSG have started their campaign with three wins in four games.
Rahul's slow strike rate draws ire
On closer inspection of Rahul's statistics, the 31-year-old has scored 81 runs in four matches at an average of 20.25, with a strike rate of only 100 this season. In contrast, during IPL 2022, he scored 24.81% of the total runs for his side, while in the ongoing edition, he has only scored 10.98% of the team's runs.
During a match against Rajasthan Royals, Kevin Pietersen expressed his displeasure with Rahul's slow strike rate during the PowerPlay, calling it the "most boring thing" he had ever witnessed while commenting on air. The incident sparked a flurry of reactions on Twitter.
Played according to situation
However, it is worth noting that Rahul had previously defended his cautious approach during the 213-run chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he scored 18 runs off 20 balls before being dismissed in the 12th over. Rahul had explained that he was forced to bat carefully due to the falling wickets around him and was simply playing according to the situation.
"I want to score more runs, and when I think I score more runs, the strike rate goes up. We have played a couple of games on tough wickets in Lucknow. Today we lost three wickets, so I looked at the situation and felt like I did the right thing. If I could have carried on and stayed there till the end and stayed with Nicky, we could've won the game a lot easier. Once I get some good knocks under my belt, I'll start feeling good, and that will go up," Rahul said in the post-match presentation."
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