Team India veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara felt that Delhi Capitals (DC) wicket-keeper KL Rahul was conservative during his 38-run knock against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, April 16. DC moved to the top of the points table after a thrilling super over victory, courtesy of Mitchell Starc’s heroics.
KL Rahul came in to bat at No.4 following the dismissals of Jake Fraser-McGurk and Karun Nair in the space of four deliveries. The right-handed batter was cautious at first, with a well-settled Abishek Porel keeping the scoreboard ticking from the other end.
DC were in need of a push in the middle overs, and Rahul had to get a move on after having settled down, facing more than 30 deliveries. He tried to pull Jofra Archer over the leg side, but was caught at deep midwicket by Shimron Hetmyer.
The hosts got the much-needed impetus after Rahul’s departure through cameos by Tristan Stubbs and skipper Axar Patel. The final flourish left the side with 188-5, a total they managed to defend, just barely.
Pujara opined that Rahul, in his new role at No.4, has to be more aggressive in the middle overs.
“KL, being the senior player, I think he wanted to play 15-20 balls, and then go out. But, at the same time, he should have attacked a bit more, because he was set, he had enough chance to look at the pitch, he knew the conditions by then. So, he was trying, but he was just trying to muscle it out of the ground,” Pujara said on ESPN Cricinfo (0:09).
“His batting order has changed a bit, too. So, I mean he is just trying to figure out. He normally does go hard in the powerplay, but after that, that is the period where he needs to be a little more aggressive. He needs to find the right shots. It looked like he was a bit cautious, he wanted to save his wicket rather than play his natural game,” Pujara added.
KL Rahul’s innings against RR came at a strike rate of 118.75, the lowest for anyone in the entire match, who faced a minimum of 10 deliveries under their belt with the bat. The wicket-keeper batter had failed to make an impact in DC’s previous clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI) as well. He scored 15 runs off 13 balls before being dismissed by Karn Sharma.
KL Rahul scored 7 runs off 3 balls off Sandeep Sharma in the super over against RR
KL Rahul was chosen to tackle the super over head-on over some certified hitters like Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel. With Tristan Stubbs by his side, the right-handed batter gave DC the perfect start in their pursuit of the 12-run target against Sandeep Sharma.
Rahul ran two off the first ball, before scoring a much-needed boundary to relieve the pressure. Tristan Stubbs then finished the match in style with a massive six over mid-wicket, bringing DC back to winning ways.
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Edited by Gokul Nair
