Published 21:24 IST, May 16th 2024
'We haven't allowed him to play his natural game': LSG coach's big remark on KL Rahul's strike rate
KL Rahul stands as the seventh-highest run-scorer this season, amassing 465 runs at a strike rate of 136.36 in 13 matches, which includes three half-centuries.
- SportFit
- 3 min read
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) assistant coach Lance Klusener acknowledged that KL Rahul might harbor some frustration despite his commendable performance with the bat in the IPL 2024 season. Klusener believes that as captain of Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul has had to temper his “natural game” due to frequent wickets falling around him.
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LSG coach on KL Rahul's strike rate
Despite being scrutinized for his strike rate, KL Rahul stands as the seventh-highest run-scorer this season, amassing 465 runs at a strike rate of 136.36 in 13 matches, which includes three half-centuries. However, despite his success, LSG is teetering on the verge of elimination. But some say that Rahul doesn't have a career strike rate of more than 135 anyway and his “natural game” is playing at that pace only.
"He's had some great performances over the tournament. He's had to rebuild a lot of the times. We've lost wickets around him. We haven't allowed him to play his natural game," Lance Klusener said.
“It's easy to just sit and think, ‘oh, well, he hasn't had a great tournament'. But if you look at his numbers, they're actually not bad at all, considering the circumstances that he's had to bat,” he told the media during LSG’s training session here at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
“He's got the respect of the group. In terms of his captaincy, it's been outstanding. (But) if he looks back, he might just be a little frustrated with the amount of runs that he scored,” Lance Klusener said.
In their upcoming match on Friday, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), currently placed seventh, will face off against Mumbai Indians (MI), marking the final group stage match for both teams in this IPL season.
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Klusener also refused to put the blame on any specific reason as to why the team failed to perform up to its potential.
“I'm a big believer that the bowling group plays a huge role in winning T20 games. But there's no blame at anyone's door,” he said.
“It's just a consistency as a group that has led us down this year. We haven't scored enough runs and again, we haven't taken enough wickets as well. You put all that together and that's why you end up where we are on the log." Klusener said they still have a chance of making IPL playoffs — given they beat MI on Friday and other results go their way — and would focus on winning.
“We're not resigned to any fact. We're just in a position where we can only make sure that we get over the line tomorrow. We've had enough opportunities over the course of the competition to make sure we don't have to rely on others,” he said.
Mumbai Indians’ Naman Dhir, meanwhile, admitted that MI’s bowlers could have done better to support Jasprit Bumrah, who is second in the list of most successful bowlers with 20 wickets.
“Sometimes we batted well or sometimes we bowled well. The coaches have also spoken with us that it was not our season, yet we worked hard. Yes, Jasprit bhai did not get enough support to his bowling in some matches, but we will learn from it,” he said.
Updated 21:33 IST, May 16th 2024