KL Rahul never managed to accelerate his innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore despite being the top run-getter for Lucknow in that match. He finished with 79 off 58 deliveries at a strike rate of 136.21.

As Rajat Patidar laid the foundation for Royal Challengers Bangalore’s big total in the Eliminator, the spotlight was on Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul to deliver in the crucial game at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

Chasing 208 for the win, Lucknow lost Protea keeper opener, Quinton de Kock, in the first over of their reply, while skipper KL Rahul went on to score 79. The Indian batter hit three fours and five maximums before falling to pacer Josh Hazlewood in the penultimate over, with Lucknow still needing 28 runs to advance to the second Qualifier.

KL Rahul tried to scoop Josh Hazlewood but was taken brilliantly by Shahbaz Ahmed at short fine leg, and Lucknow eventually finished on 193-6 to bow out of the 10-team competition. While he top-scored for his side, KL Rahul never managed to accelerate his innings. He finished with 79 off 58 deliveries at a strike rate of 136.21.

KL Rahul’s 6 Hitting Ability Is More Than Even Kieron Pollard: Harbhajan Singh

Pundits and fans questioned the conservative batting approach of KL Rahul, who has amassed more than 550 runs in every edition of IPL since 2018. But former India tweaker Harbhajan Singh said the Karnataka lad can hit sixes and even rated him higher than West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard. Harbhajan Singh further pointed out Lucknow’s sluggish scoring rate at the start that eventually made the difference.

“KL Rahul often plays the role of an anchor. His six-hitting ability probably is more than someone like Kieron Pollard. But Lucknow played slow in the initial six overs.

“If they had got early momentum, Lucknow would have had fewer runs to score in the last few overs. Of course, Harshal and Hazlewood bowled well but Lucknow missed a trick by not scoring more runs in the powerplay. In the end, that decided the outcome of the game,” Harbhajan Singh said.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) made an impressive debut in the IPL 2022 edition as they qualified for the final four at the 3^rd spot. KL Rahul led from the front scoring 616 runs in 15 matches with two centuries against Mumbai and an average of over 50 and a strike rate of about 136.

He even added an IPL record opening partnership of 210 runs with Quinton de Kock in one of the matches against KKR where his Proteas partner made 140* and he made a half-century. That was the first time an opening pair batted for the whole 20 overs and the first time two batters played out entire innings in T20 cricket.

KL Rahul Admits He And Lucknow Haven’t Done Well While Chasing

KL Rahul himself acknowledged that “two big hits” would have probably done the job for Lucknow, who were chasing a hefty total. He managed to amass just a single boundary in seven overs after the powerplay.

“Yes, I think now, looking back, yes, it was just about two big hits in the middle overs and that could have gotten us over the line,” Rahul said in the post-match press conference on Wednesday.

“We won a few games but generally overall we did not do well chasing. It’s something that we need to learn,” he said. “For me, I think this season has been like every other season, has been a good learning experience.”

KL Rahul, who signed off with 616 runs in 15 games this season, admitted that his numbers while chasing haven’t been satisfactory. His 79 in the eliminator was his highest and only fifty while batting second.

“I paid a bit of attention to the stats this season as well. Yes in this season, I’ve not scored much while batting second,” he agreed.

“But it was a big game and when you come to a big game, you forget about your form, your runs in the last 14 matches.”

Rajat Patidar slammed 112* in 54 balls with 12 fours and 7 sixes and along with 25 from Virat Kohli and 37* from Dinesh Karthik, he took RCB to a daunting total of 207/4 in 20 overs.

KL Rahul led from the front, making 79 runs and Deepak Hooda made 45 runs, but LSG left it a little too late for the last burst of big hits and fell 14 runs short in the end, getting eliminated from the IPL 2022, albeit a great outing in their maiden IPL tournament.