Former New Zealand pacer and cricket expert Mitchell McClenaghan called for the Indian batsman KL Rahul to change his batting style if he wants to continue playing T20 cricket after his yet another slow innings for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the ongoing IPL 2024.
Rahul played one of the slowest T20 innings of 29 runs off 33 balls during Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)’s humiliating 10-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 57th match of the ongoing IPL 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Hyderabad on May 8th.
The wicketkeeper-batter has already been dropped from the Indian T20I team and was not even selected for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 as he lost races to Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. However, the LSG captain’s numbers are not that good in the ongoing IPL 2024 but it was his style of play that worked against him.
KL Rahul can’t play at this pace in T20s: Mitchell McClenaghan
He has amassed 460 runs in 12 matches at an average of 38 and a strike rate of 136. After SRH against LSG During the match, McClenaghan warned Rahul to wake up and change his style of play to keep up with the fast pace of T20 cricket. He also mentioned Virat Kohli’s comeback and expressed confidence that Rahul would make a strong return to form.
Mitchell McClenaghan said on ESPNCricinfo’s Time Out: “If this doesn’t sensitize KL Rahul to the style of cricket he needs to play in the future to be successful and continue playing for India, then I don’t know what will. I think that doesn’t work. There’s no way he can. He can play aggressively because we’ve seen that from him before. And I think he needs to come around, much like we saw with Virat Kohli.
KL feels he is the only one who can score runs and I have to score, I have to score. He has to trust the other guys. He has to trust the others to do the work. It looks like he’s carrying the entire team on his back, thinking that if he doesn’t bat the innings, they won’t get a score. And then when he does come out, they’re far away, like tonight, they’re far behind where they should be.”
KL Rahul needs support from India and LSG: Mitchell McClenaghan
McClenaghan further said that Rahul has a really good coach, Justin Langer, and good management at LSG, and they are really helping him, saying they can give him the confidence that “it’s okay to fail, and we will not let you fall.” He also believes that it will be a big help for Rahul if this message comes from Indian head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma.
The former Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer wants Dravid and Rohit to support him at all times and help him change the style of play. He says if they can unlock Rahul’s real T20 mode, he will be one of the best batters there is. McClenaghan is confident he will bounce back from this.
Look here:
“If KL doesn’t wake Rahul up, I don’t know what will happen.”@Mitch_Savage | #SRHvLSG | #Timeout pic.twitter.com/eIKXQSZZnk
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 9, 2024