KL Rahul's captaincy is a big toss-up for LSG
The Lucknow Super Giants appointed former Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul as the man to lead the franchise in this edition of the IPL. While roping Rahul in seems to be a master move given his consistent run-scoring form in previous editions of the IPL, elevating him to be their captain remains a big toss-up.
KL Rahul is still a very inexperienced captain given the other captains that will be operating in this year's IPL. His captaincy record includes only a two-year stint with the Punjab Kings apart from a handful of games for team India. The Bangalorean has not enjoyed any stint on the domestic circuit, be it the Ranji Trophy or the shorter formats.
KL Rahul has been appointed as the captain of Lucknow IPL franchise.
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Not so impressive a track record
The elegant right-hander's captaincy credentials are quite a few miles away from his qualities as a batter. Be it the national team or his previous franchises, all the teams he has played for so far strongly rely on his services as a batter. However, he is yet to prove himself as the captain that generates results on the field.
When he was appointed as the captain of the Punjab Kings, the expectation was that he would surpass his predecessors in terms of guile and his instinctive decision.
However, after two seasons at the helm, his captaincy record as an IPL captain is worse than that of Yuvraj Singh, George Bailey and even Glenn Maxwell, who captained them for one season. His IPL team has witnessed more defeats on average than the former Punjab captains.
Even as a national team captain, despite the fact that the sample set is quite low, he has barely evoked any impression of excellence. India went on to lose all three matches in their recent tour of South Africa under Rahul's captaincy without showing any signs of resilience or hunger.
India will lose. They had been riding on the bowling for a long time and this off day was bound to happen some day. The batting has to shoulder more responsibility if you want Cape Town to go your way #INDvSA
KL Rahul has shown a lack of tactical acumen as a captain
In India's recent outing against South Africa, Rahul's captaincy came under heavy scrutiny after the visitors allowed South Africa to run away with their first game despite reducing them to 68 for 3 in the opening seventeen overs. His decision to let his premier fast bowlers complete their spells before the last six overs allowed Bavuma and Van der Dussen to post a near 300 score.
Dale Steyn said, "KL Rahul did nothing wrong with his captaincy. But there were bit of planning that was the difference. South Africa were walking up to the bowlers, India stayed in their crease. It’s the little things KL is going to get better at". (On Star).
In the IPL as well, criticism was labeled at the Bangalorean after Punjab started losing matches from completely winning positions. In their game against Bangalore, the team needed seventy runs off their last nine overs with nine wickets in hand and they only managed to lose the tie.
This interestingly became a common trend for the Kings in last year's edition. Fans have his often come hard at him for his low-strike rate, which unfortunately remains a concern even for his new franchise.