'KL Rahul Went Into a Shell': Former India Cricketer Critical of LSG Captain After Slow Batting vs CSK

Lucknow Super Giants started their IPL 2023 campaign with an impressive win over Delhi Capitals before succumbing to a 12-run defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk Stadium. Chasing 218, LSG made a blistering start thanks to a blinder of an innings from opener Kyle Myers who stormed to 53 off 22.

However, CSK spinners put a brake on their scoring rate besides landing regular strikes to dent LSG’s progress. Eventually, Lucknow finished with 205/7 in 20 overs.

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Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar felt that LSG captain KL Rahul could shouldn’t have taken a backseat with his opening partner going berserk in the Powerplay overs.

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Drawing comparisons between the strike-rate of the two batters, Manjrekar said Rahul found it difficult to keep up the tempo once Mayers was dismissed.

“When Kyle Mayers batted with a strike rate of 240, KL Rahul went into a shell. Once Mayers got out, Rahul realised he had to go for the big shots and was dismissed at a strike rate of just 111," Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo.

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“It’s very difficult to suddenly be explosive when you’re already playing in one gear. You need to play every ball on its merit and just because the opening partner is going hard, doesn’t mean you should slow down," he added.

It was Rahul who had won the coin toss and opted to bowl first against CSK.

“Wouldn’t change the toss decision, we didn’t win because we didn’t capitalise the small moments. We had a good start but couldn’t press on," he said.

Plenty of LSG batters perished in their efforts to clear the boundary. “Not often we’ll find 4-5 guys caught on the boundary ropes, they needed to go over and will go over the next time. We’ll take that in T20 cricket, today the game didn’t go our way but this is the way we want to keep playing," Rahul said.

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