A trial by fire? More like a holiday in hell. Lucknow Super Giants were utter spectators to the dance of destruction that SRH openers unleashed upon their bowling ranks, as the likes of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma wreaked utter havoc to chase down 165 runs in less than ten overs to clinch a dominating win on Wednesday.
Much talk was surrounding the unstoppable forces of nature that the likes of Head and Abhishek were, whilst others turned to reflect upon the LSG batting ranks and their failure to capitalise off the pitch themselves, especially the likes of skipper KL Rahul.
After going down 2 wicket early, the onus was on Rahul and Krunal Pandya to help the visitors get out of their slump, but in fact, the duo barely did any damage of their own, during the powerplay especially as LSG crawled to an abysmal 27-2, with neither batters able to threaten the SRH bowlers.
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Rahul, as LSG’s leading scorer this season, was disappointing in his outing as well mustering up just 29 runs in 33 balls, at a sluggish strike rate of 87.88: figures that caught the eyes of all in the cricketing world, especially that of former New Zealand international Mitchell McClenaghan.
McClenaghan brought to light the current situation of KL Rahul, with respect to his international career with India, and commented on the need for the wicketkeeper-batter to up the ante and step up to the plate, if he expects to make a comeback to the Indian side after being dropped for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June.
“If this doesn’t wake KL up to the style of cricket he needs to play going forward to be successful and to continue playing for India, I don’t know what will,” said McClenaghan in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.
“He can do it. He has got to get past, very similar to what we’ve seen with Virat (Kohli), the feeling of ‘ You’re the only person that can score runs’. And he’s got to go, right, I need to score runs but if I am going to miss out, it’s okay.”
The former Kiwi international also highlighted the importance of Rahul trusting his teammates to play their natural game and play their part accordingly, with the need for delegation and reinstilling of faith in his side.
“Trust the other guys to do the job. It looks like he’s carrying the whole team on his back,” reinstated McClenaghan.
“It’s going to take a really good coach and a good coaching structure or management to give him the confidence that it’s okay to fail and we’re not going to drop you.”
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