Contrary to popular opinion, former India seamer RP Singh likes Rahul’s approach of taking time to settle early in the innings and accelerating later.
While praising the Lucknow Super Giants skipper, RP Singh took a dig at Rahul’s teammate Manish Pandey. The former Indian pacer said if Rahul got dismissed frequently after scoring run-a-ball 25, we’d say he batted like Pandey.
Having joined Lucknow Super Giants at the 2022 mega auction back in February, the 32-year-old struggled to get going in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League, managing only 88 runs from six innings.
Rahul, on the other hand, was at his usual best, producing yet another high-scoring season and leading the team to the playoffs. He finished the season as the second-highest run-getter, with 616 runs from 15 matches at an average of 51.33 while scoring at 135.38.
The 30-year-old received a lot of criticism for his slow approach, especially after his match-losing knock of 58-ball 79 chasing 208 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator. RP Singh, however, has come to his defence.
“KL Rahul is technically very sound. He has game-awareness as he picks the bowlers against whom he can take chances on a given day. If he gets out for a run-a-ball 25, we’d say that he played like Manish Pandey does. But he protects his wicket and knows when to accelerate,”
he was quoted as per Cricbuzz.
India’s former wicket-keeper batter Parthiv Patel was also in agreement with Singh and praised Rahul, who is all set to lead India in the five-match T20I series against South Africa in the absence of Rohit Sharma, starting June 9.
“KL Rahul is the only player who can score a century in 20 overs despite starting slowly. If you are able to score 100 runs off 60 balls, it means that you’ve read the game well and know how to pace your innings,”
Parthiv said.
