Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has come down hard on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul after his sluggish knock against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Super Giants were eventually knocked out of IPL 2022 after suffering a 14-run defeat against RCB.
The Karnataka-born cricketer scored 79 off 58 deliveries but failed to finish the game. He got out in the 19th over the game which sank Lucknow’s hope of making it to Qualifier 2 on Friday.
Manjrekar pointed out a pattern where Rahul wants to bat till the end of an innings, which puts pressure on other batsmen who are expected to fire with not much time left in the match. Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar said:
“Quinton de Kock’s wicket was very crucial because that would have taken the pressure off KL Rahul. KL Rahul’s innings is something that we have seen before, when he was captain of Punjab Kings, the team would fall short of a run chase. And the scenario would be the same.”
He added:
“You will have a KL Rahul bat till the very end, they would have lost three or four wickets, and people like Pooran would come in, like Evin Lewis came in the last two overs, Krunal and Stoinis towards the last, so it’s like working with the crumbs and you have to come in and make up for the lack of the pace the innings had.”
“Teams would benefit immensely if KL Rahul batted quicker rather than longer” – Sanjay Manjrekar
The cricketer-turned-commentator believes the 30-year-old should concentrate on scoring quick runs rather than playing longer.
“KL Rahul has the ability to do that. Every time he decided to play the big shots, it came off. He played a couple of terrific shots against Hazlewood. He can do it when he wants to. But he has just this deep-rooted belief or an attitude or an approach that he wants to bat longer, than quicker,” Manjrekar said.
“And if I was his coach, I would take that decision out of his hand even if he is the captain. For the teams that he has played for, we have seen results in a lot of games where teams would benefit immensely if KL Rahul batted quicker rather than longer,” he concluded.
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