NEW DELHI: Only a few Lucknow Super Giants players turned up to train at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday afternoon, on the eve of their crucial match against Delhi Capitals. One of them was skipper KL Rahul who, under the unforgiving sun, was sweating it out as he tries to improve his own and his team’s fortunes.
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He has been in focus, especially after the animated conversation with team owner Sanjiv Goenka after the drubbing at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game.
Rahul’s own T20 game seems to have come up short this IPL season. Forever scrutinised over his ‘lack of intent’, Rahul has failed to find a spot in India’s T20 World Cup team. His 460 runs this IPL so far has come at a strike rate of 136, which seems well below par going by the tournament standards.
The LSG management has been trying hard to stress that he remains an exceptional cog in their machine. Head coach Justin Langer, while speaking to TOI on Monday, kept mentioning Rahul in the same breath as the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Assistant coach Lance Klusener too tried to justify Rahul’s approach at the top of the order: “KL’s got his own unique style which has made him a fantastic player, not just here in India. He is respected around the world.”
One of the reasons that Rahul has been ignored by the Indian team management is his inability to evolve along with T20’s fierce power-hitting trends. He seems bent on playing the anchor role which has left the rest of the batting to do the heavy lifting.
Klusener presented Rahul’s side of the story. “It’s been exceptionally tough for him this IPL because we’ve kept losing wickets, which hasn’t allowed him to kick on. He feels he is always having to rebuild. I think it’s just been extremely tough conditions for him in that way. It’s something we’ve chatted about,” Klusener stated.
“By KL’s high standards, he probably would have liked to have kicked on in a few more games. Probably would have liked to have at least one or two hundreds. But there’s still a couple of games left. He’s in a good space, so we’ve got our fingers crossed,” he added.
As Rahul worked on his hitting skills with a vertical bat at the centre square of the Kotla, LSG would hope he gets going on Tuesday in the make-or-break match. For, the Kotla strip has consistently been most conducive to the power game. A sedate Rahul would mean LSG playing catch-up again.
