Question marks have been raised over the tempo of each of his innings in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 since scoring a 69-ball 132 in the victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), but for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper KL Rahul, the ongoing talks around his strike-rate are "overrated".
It isn't that Rahul is worryingly out of form, just that, from the outside at least, it seems the right-hander has taken too much pressure of being a captain and feels the need to bat deeper into the innings even if that comes at a cost.
After yet another loss, KXIP's fifth of the tournament versus Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai on Thursday (October 8), Rahul, who made a 16-ball 11 despite batting mostly in the powerplay in his team's ultimately unsuccessful run-chase of 202, justified his much-criticised approach at the crease.
"I think strike rate is very, very overrated. For me, it is only about how I can win games for my team and on a certain day if 120 can win a game for my team then I will do that. This is how I bat and I like to take responsibility," Rahul said at the post-match press conference, as quoted by PTI.
The 28-year-old is currently sitting on the top of the run-charts for the league with 313 runs, including a ton and two fifties, at a strike-rate of 136.68, which drops significantly if one excludes the innings against RCB.
Rahul, however, said: "As a leader, you have to take responsibility. We all make mistakes. I'm not saying that I have not made a few mistakes but you learn each day as a leader, as a batter. It is a partnership when we are in the middle as a batting group."
"Every player has a different role in the team and those roles can change in the middle with each game. So, I tried to do the best I can for the team and tried to assess the situation and played according to that."
"At the end of the day, to walk out of the ground knowing that I have got my team as close to winning or tried to win the game is the most important thing," he added.
Rahul also defended his team's batting line-up after they collapsed to just 132 all out versus SRH and downplayed suggestions that they are too dependent on him and his fellow opener Mayank Agarwal, another player in form, who got run-out for 9 runs in the latest defeat.
"When you see a team at the bottom of the table, you start to think a lot of things aren't going right, it hasn't gone right but no teams have top six players firing."
"A couple of them will be in good form and a couple of them won't be looking good so it is important that the in-form players get as many runs as possible. The openers are always expected to give teams a good start," he added.
Despite the horrible outcome at the end, there were positives for KXIP to take forward in the form of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (3/29).
The two youngsters brought KXIP back into the contest late in the first half with a flurry of wickets after SRH openers David Warner (52) and Jonny Bairstow (97) threatened to put an even more intimidating total on the board.
"Arshdeep and Bishnoi - so good to see them me among the wickets. They bowled high-pressure overs, and it's great to see how they held their nerve to bowl those big overs for the team at this platform," said Rahul.
