‘KL Rahul went into a shell’ – Ex-Indian cricketer slams Lucknow skipper for slow batting against Chennai

The Lucknow franchise had a great start in the Indian T20 League 2023 after they defeated Delhi in their first match by 50 runs. However, Lucknow couldn’t continue their winning momentum against Chennai as they lost the game at Chepauk by 12 runs. Chennai posted a big total of 217 for the loss of 7 wickets, while Lucknow fell short of 12 runs as they were restricted to 205 for 7.

However, Lucknow had a great start as Kyle Mayers smashed 53 runs off 22 balls inside six over. On the other side, skipper KL Rahul played a steady knock and took the innings further with Mayers. After Mayers’ dismissal, Rahul to tried to take charge but ended up giving a catch to Rurutraj Gaikwad on the delivery of Moeen Ali in the eighth over.

The former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was not impressed with the way Rahul batted against Chennai. Manjrekar said that it is difficult to change the gears immediately after playing slowly. He believes that one batter should not slow down even when the other batter is going hard.

‘Once Mayers got out, Rahul realized he had to go for the big shots…’ – Manjrekar

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

Lucknow started losing momentum after losing Kyle Mayers and went on to lose wickets at regular intervals. Nicholas Pooran tried to take Lucknow down the line with some big hits but he also got out after scoring 32 off 18. After that, Ayush Badoni went on to score 23 off 18 without any single which took the game further away from Lucknow, and at last, they fell short of 12 runs. Moeen Ali was the main anchor of Chennai’s bowling as he scalped 4 wickets by conceding 26 runs in his four overs.