KL rues missing big hits in middle
Kolkata, May 26: When Mark Zuckerberg famously said: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk”, K.L. Rahul ought to have paid attention. The India player is too good a batter to not take on the bowlers at any stage of a game, but his conservative middleovers approach did not help Lucknow Super Giants’ cause in the eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
At the end of the game, the LSG skipper acknowledged that “two big hits” would have probably done the job for his team in a chase of 208.
“Yes, I think now, looking back, yes, it was just about two big hits in the middle overs and that could have gotten us over the line,” Rahul said in the post-match press conference here.
There was a seven-over period after the powerplay during which Rahul managed to hit just one boundary.
Rahul was in red-hot form this season with two centuries and four fifties, but his approach while chasing is something he needed to work on. The IPL debutants lost five of their seven matches while chasing.
“We won a few games but generally overall we did not do well chasing. It’s something that we need to learn,” Rahul said.
“For me, I think this season has been like every other season, has been a good learning experience.
“We, as a team as well, it’s been a very challenging season. We’ve learned a lot.”
Rahul, who is only the second batter this IPL to
go past 600 runs, scored 79 off 58 balls on Wednesday, which was not enough in their stiff chase.
“I’ve really done well in other seasons, and I enjoy chasing. Yeah, you become successful and at times you fail,” Rahul said after the 14-run loss.
“But it’s a team game and the team has really stepped up even when we’re chasing,” he added.
Rahul, who will lead India in the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa next month in the absence or Rohit Sharma, has been in imperious form this season, with 616 runs from 15 matches at an average of 51.33. But his stats while chasing give an altogether different picture.
He has scored just 191 runs from seven innings while batting second, with an average of 27.28 at a strike-rate of 113.01.
His 79 in the eliminator was his highest and only fifty while chasing.