'We haven't allowed him to play his natural game': LSG coach's big remark on KL Rahul's strike rate

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) assistant coach Lance Klusener acknowledged that KL Rahul might harbor some frustration despite his commendable performance with bat in IPL 2024 season. Klusener believes that as captain of Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul has h 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 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 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 h some great performances over tournament. He's h to rebuild a lot of 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 h a great tournament'. But if you look at his numbers, y're actually not b at all, considering circumstances that he's h to bat,” he told media during LSG’s training session here at Wankhede Stium on Thursday.

“He's got respect of group. In terms of his captaincy, it's been outstanding. (But) if he looks back, he might just be a little frustrated with amount of runs that he scored,” Lance Klusener said.

In ir upcoming match on Friday, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), currently placed seventh, will face off against Mumbai Indians (MI), marking final group stage match for both teams in this IPL season.

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Klusener also refused to put blame on any specific reason as to why team failed to perform up to its potential.

“I'm a big believer that bowling group plays a huge role in winning T20 games. But re'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 toger and that's why you end up where we are on log." Klusener said y still have a chance of making IPL playoffs — given y beat MI on Friday and or results go ir 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 line tomorrow. We've h enough opportunities over course of competition to make sure we don't have to rely on ors,” he said.

Mumbai Indians’ Naman Dhir, meanwhile, mitted that MI’s bowlers could have done better to support Jasprit Bumrah, who is second in list of most successful bowlers with 20 wickets.

“Sometimes we batted well or sometimes we bowled well. 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.