Punjab Kings were face to face against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 21st match of the Indian Premier League 2021. Eoin Morgan opted to bowl first after winning the toss. And his bowlers proved his decision right by containing destructive PKBS openers. Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul couldn’t score freely and gave their team a rather slow start.
KL Rahul has been among the leading run-scorers in the league since joining the Punjab franchise back in 2018. However, since he took over the reins of the team, his batting witnessed a drastic drop in the strike rate. His team was at the receiving end of his slow start during the last IPL as well. This year too, he looked to struggle with his batting strike rate.
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During the clash against KKR, he found it hard to score freely as Pat Cummins and Shivam Mavi contained him and didn’t bowl poor deliveries. Rahul finally gave away his wicket to Pat Cummins in the sixth over of the innings in an attempt to break the shackles. He tried to hit the ball for a boundary but ended up miscuing it high in the sky. Sunil Narine did the rest by taking a fine catch.
M21: PBKS vs KKR – KL Rahul Wicket https://t.co/k0Z0JooDrv
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Rahul scored 19 runs in 20 balls, where he hit two boundaries and a six.
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Rahul started the season with a superb knock against Rajasthan Royals in a high-scoring thriller. His 91 runs came in just 50 balls in that game and propelled his team’s score to 221/6 in 20 overs. However, since then, he failed to play swashbuckling innings, which he is known for. It was his slow innings of 61 runs in 51 balls that prevented his team from crossing the 200-run mark against the Delhi Capitals. Eventually, it cost his team the game.
