Former Karnataka pacer Dodda Ganesh has fired all cylinders on KL Rahul after his yet another poor innings. Dodda Ganesh criticized KL Rahul harshly for his strategy, calling it “the most terrible innings played in the history of the IPL.”
Despite leading his team to a stunning last-ball victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday, KL Rahul, the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants, was criticized for his painstaking 20-ball innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL 2023 encounter. LSG skipper KL Rahul hit 18 runs off of 20 balls with a strike rate of 90 in a T20 encounter when 213 was chased down. In the high-scoring game, he was the only batter (with more than 10 balls) to have scored at a strike rate below 125. Rahul just managed one boundary during his spell in the middle despite batting during the powerplay in the 213-run chase.
Dodda speaks about KL Rahul
“Not one shot with intent from KL Rahul in the PP while chasing 213. Don’t know what’s in his mind. You simply can’t bat like this,” Doda tweeted.
“This innings from KL Rahul has to be the most hideous innings played in the history of IPL ever considering the context of the game. Man. What’s in his mind? Seriously. This can’t happen for so long at this level. It’s not school cricket,” he added.
KL talks about his low strike rate
“If I score more runs, the strike rate will go up. I looked at the situation and I feel I had done the right thing. Hopefully, with a couple of good knocks the strike rate will go up,” Rahul said, following LSG’s one-wicket win.
“From the position we were in, we were chasing 210-plus and we knew we had to go hard and attack. But, sometimes, when you do that you lose wickets. Unbelievable, I mean it’s Chinnaswamy. I’ve grown up here and I think it’s the stadium with the most last-ball finishes.
“They (RCB) bowled well in the powerplay, they swung it well. But the way Stoinis and Pooran played, if we have two points today it’s because of them.”
Rahul added, “If you look at the middle order, No. 5, 6 and 7, they win you the crunch games. The top order will get the bulk of runs but it’s those positions that matter and that’s why we invested in power in Pooran, Stoinis and Badoni. And Badoni is learning to finish games.”
Rahul’s prolonged presence at the crease ultimately increased the pressure on players like Pooran and Ayush Badoni to increase the run pace. Marcus Stoinis, who entered the game at No. 5, was forced to go for the big shots right away and crushed a 30-ball 65 to give the innings some energy.
