 "Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul has come under fire for his poor strike rate as a batter. PTI")
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were in contention for a third consecutive appearance in playoffs for the longest time in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), especially after registering consecutive victories against defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Their fortunes, however, have taken a massive hit in the last couple of weeks with the KL Rahul-led side losing three out of their last four matches, suffering a 98-run and a 10-wicket thrashing against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) respectively in their last two outings.
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With LSG dropping to the sixth spot on the IPL 2024 table and their chances of a top-four finish appearing increasingly slim, the focus has shifted on Rahul and his future as the franchise’ skipper.
Rahul, who had joined LSG as their captain ahead of their debut season in 2022, was seen copping an earful from LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka after the humiliating defeat against SRH and it’s unlikely he will be retained as skipper ahead of the mega auction next year.
There is also a possibility that Rahul might resign from the role with two games left in the season and just focus on his batting, a decision he will get plenty of time to make with five days to go for their next match.
“There is a five-day gap before the next game against DC. As of now, no decision has been taken but it is understood that if Rahul plans to just concentrate on his batting for the remaining two games, the management won’t mind,” an IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsVideos of LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka’s agitated conversation with Rahul emerged on social media after Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Travis Head (89 not out off 30 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (75 off 28 balls) reached a target of 167 in less than 10 overs.
This was after the home team batters struggled to get going on the same track.
Worse, Rahul’s (29 off 33 balls) batting in the Powerplay has been one of the biggest reasons for LSG’s below-par show in the cash-rich league and it seems that Goenka has finally run out of patience.
The India star has scored 460 runs in 12 games and could again cross the 500-run mark for the season but it is his strike-rate of 136.09 which is the problem.
LSG are still mathematically in contention as they can reach 16 points by winning their remaining two games — vs Delhi Capitals in New Delhi on 14 May and vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede on 17 May.
However, it will be very difficult to massively improve upon the net run-rate (-0.760).
In case, Rahul decides to step down, vice-captain Nicholas Pooran, easily the team’s most impactful batter in the season, is likely to take over for the remaining two games.
With PTI inputs