After he hit an undefeated 112 against Gujarat Titans on Sunday to save the Delhi Capitals from a batting collapse, former Australia batsman Tom Moody said that wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul hasn't been given enough credit for his actual potential.
Rahul finished undefeated on 112 at a strike rate of 172.30, reaching his century in 60 deliveries. His knock took DC to 199/3 in 20 overs. But his efforts were in vain as the Gujarat Titans secured a playoff berth thanks to the easy chase down of the mark by Sai Sudharsan (108 not out) and Shubman Gill (93 not out).
He has been hitting at 148.04 in the IPL 2025, with 493 runs in 12 innings. Since the 2018 IPL, when he amassed 659 runs at a pace of 158.41 strike rate in 14 games.
“I always find the criticism around KL Rahul quite extraordinary. I think he's a much better player than a lot of people give him credit for. And the way I look at this inning, I think it's an outstanding inning.
And yeah, look, it'll depend on who wins the game as to whether he's, you know, the Player of the Match or not. But the way I look at this, and I look at the batting card, what's let them down and not reach that 220 is the other batters that were in only struck at 150. On a (batting-friendly) surface, you want impact,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.
"When you've got someone in there that's anchoring, that's building the total, your role when you come in is to impact the game—30 off ten balls, those types of innings that suddenly take you to that 220. Instead of pointing the finger at the same person, I think it's the other way around," he added.
Tom Moody also stated that DC had the chance to score in excess of 220. Rahul scored 56 off 38 deliveries as the Delhi Capitals were 81 for 1 at the ten-over stage. However, Rahul only faced six balls between overs 15 and 18, with the majority of the strike being taken on by Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs.
"The team had the opportunity to get it to 220. The team didn't do that. This is not an individual sport. This is a team sport. And that's where the communication around who's coming in and the communication when you're out there—'Okay we need to target two boundaries at the beginning of this over; let's make this a big over,' that type of conversation.
To me, they just lay idle a little bit in that middle [period]. And also, we've got to recognize KL. Rahul, I believe, only faced four (six) balls in a period of four overs in the middle of that. So, therefore, he lost a bit of his rhythm as well," Moody said.
DC has two more games in hand, against MI in Mumbai on May 21 and PBKS in Jaipur on May 24. They need to win both with good margins to be in the race for a playoff spot.
(IANS inputs)
