Venkatesh Prasad Accuses KL Rahul of Baffling Batting vs Gujarat Titans

Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul failed terribly to seal a 136-run target against Gujarat Titans despite being the highest run-scorer from both the teams. Rahul, who almost batted throughout the innings, took a low-scoring chase down to the wire but only for him to be unable to pull off a victory.

Had it been a high-scoring contest, one could’ve sympathized with Rahul for an unsuccessful but sincere effort but the right-handed batter didn’t leave any scope for sympathy on the back of scoring 68 (61) with the help of eight fours. For a format which is played in fast forward mode nowadays, Rahul’s strike rate of 111.47 is the third-lowest (minimum 60 balls faced) in the history of the IPL.

With the team needing 31 runs in six overs to win with as many as nine wickets in hand, no one would’ve ever thought of Super Giants finishing on the losing side. Rahul, in particular, scored 10 (16) in the last five overs to register an unacceptable display of T20 batting performance.

Venkatesh Prasad Accuses KL Rahul of Baffling Batting vs Gujarat Titans

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad didn’t mince his words to launch a scathing attack on Rahul. Prasad took to social media platform Twitter using the words “baffling” and “brainless” to describe Lucknow’s batting on a Saturday evening.

Prasad, who had clarified in the past regarding having no agenda against Rahul, made sense yet again while also pointing out how Rahul was at the helm when Punjab Kings used to lose matches in a similar manner during IPL 2020.

KL Rahul at loss for words after embarrassing defeat vs Gujarat Titans

The fact that LSG ended up losing a couple of points which were there to be taken at their home ground should hurt them. Taking into consideration how two points can decide a team’s future in this competition, Lucknow will be ruing not winning a match against the defending champions.

Having led his team to a third consecutive loss against this opposition, Rahul was at a loss for words to describe the proceedings at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Rahul, however, was honest enough to admit that they should’ve taken their chances earlier in the innings.

“I don’t know how it happened but it has happened. I can’t put a finger on where it went wrong but we lost two points today. This is cricket. We perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand,” Rahul told host broadcaster Star Sports Network in a post-match conversation stating how he wouldn’t have taken the situation this deep had it not been for Titans’ bowlers “bowling well”.

A defeat which could well be an eye-opener has it in it to force the franchise to reconsider the nature of pitches they want for their remaining home matches of the season.