Former Pakistan cricket Ramiz Raja has heaped praises on stylish Indian batsman KL Rahul, calling his batting a delight for the viewers. Rahul ended his poor run of form during the One-Day International series against England and carried his performance into the Indian Premier League as well. He has, so far, scored two fifties for Punjab Kings in four games of the IPL 2021 so far.
Ramiz Raja praised KL’s batting, saying it a delight for the viewers. He, also, pointed out that things can be different for a batsman like KL to adjust in the T20s. Several question marks have been raised on his strike rate since taking over the captaincy of the Punjab-based franchise.
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For his column in Khaleej Times, Raja wrote “KL Rahul is a viewers’ delight. He is aesthetically one of the most pleasing batsmen on the eye, a purist to the hilt. For someone who is betrothed to technique, dancing to the music notes of T20 batting can be one hell of a challenge.”
The veteran commentator further mentioned a stat, that whenever Rahul plays for India and faces 40+ balls in T20Is, India wins 90% of matches. But when it comes to Punjab, they won only eight of the 18 matches when Rahul has faced more than 40 balls. He also said captaincy is added pressure on any batsman.
Raja further wrote, “As an opener at Punjab Kings, he has a choice to set the tone of the innings. Maybe, he puts too much price on his wicket and wants to stay till the end which pulls down the scoring rate.”
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“The power play batting thrust loses its steam once the field is opened up. The overall run rate in the match was 10.25. But Rahul could only muster a strike rate of 7.17.”
Despite KL’s good batting show, Punjab Kings got off to a poor start in the IPL 2021, winning only one of their first four matches. That sole victory came in a thriller contest against Rajasthan Royals, where they came over by just four runs. Their latest defeat was against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Wednesday’s first of the two games.
