Rahul opened the batting for LSG in the ongoing IPL season.
Rahul opened the batting for LSG and returned with 520 runs to his name from 14 matches this season. The wicketkeeper-batter finished as the leading run-scorer for Lucknow in an underwhelming campaign for the franchise after scoring 55 against MI.
Before the IPL 2024, Rahul had hinted that he could come to bat in the middle-order for the Indian team with the T20 World Cup around the corner. However, he batted at the top of the order right through the season.
After LSG’s last league match of the season, KL Rahul said he has learned a lot and his future role will depend on what the Indian team wants from him in the shortest format.
“There's not much T20 cricket coming up now. It's been a season where I've learnt a lot about my own batting and what I need to do to get back in the team. Maybe middle-order, maybe not,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
“We would've ideally wanted him (Pooran) to bat higher, but with how the team's lined up, we want our senior international players bat in positions where they can absorb pressure. Didn't want our two overseas batters to bat close together. I'm on my father-in-law's team now. We'll both be cheering for Sharma ji ka beta in the World Cup,” he added.
Featuring in the IPL since 2022, LSG failed to make it to the IPL playoffs for the first time. Rahul acknowledged that it was a very disappointing season for them while adding they had all the bases covered but a few injuries hurt them badly.
“Very disappointing. At the beginning of the season, I really felt we had a strong team and had most bases covered. Couple of injuries - happens to every team. We didn't play well enough collectively. Today was a really good performance. This is the kind of game we wanted to play more. Unfortunately we didn't do that,” Rahul remarked.
“Really happy for them. Franchise has invested a lot of time and energy with them (Indian pacers in LSG). It's not just two months in the year. We sent Mayank and Yudhvir to South Africa to train with Morne Morkel. Hard work for them has paid off, but franchise and the team has worked a lot with them. I'm not sure,” he concluded.
Lucknow Super Giants finished the season with 14 points to their name but an inferior run-rate meant that they missed out on the playoffs spot.