Former Indian captain and coach, Ravi Shastri, questioned KL Rahul's approach during the IPL 2022 Eliminator between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday (May 25).
Chasing a strong target of 208 against RCB, Mohammed Siraj gave a shock to LSG by dismissing their opener Quinton De Kock (6) in the first over, but Rahul (79) somehow managed to bring the new franchise back into the game but failed to take the side over the line in the Eliminator.
Ravi Shastri told Star Sports: “They should have gone a little earlier. Sometimes, you wait too long but here, between the 9th and the 14th over, they should have been someone who should have been targeted, especially in that partnership.”
Rahul's approach in the middle-overs wasn’t impressive at all, as the LSG captain hit only one boundary in the next 7 overs after hitting 26 off 17 balls in the powerplay, resulting in the new franchise managing just 49 runs between 7 and 13 overs, and eventually falling 14-run short of the target.
He concluded, “When Deepak Hooda (45 off 26 balls) and Rahul were going, I think even though he did as well as he did, KL could have taken a little more chances because Hooda was going. Take a little more chances and he could have targetted someone between the 9th and the 13th over because Harshal Patel was going to come back in the end. If they had got the required rate down at the stage, that would have made RCB a little nervous.”
