"Seven wonders of the world may be somewhere else but the 8th one is here" - Fans react as KL Rahul throws away another start vs SRH in IPL 2024
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul endured another poor outing with the bat in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Rahul managed 29 off 33 balls before getting out against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday (May 8).
LSG won the toss and opted to bat to put runs on the scoreboard in a must-win game for both teams. However, the decision backfired as Lucknow batters struggled to get going on a wicket that was slow and assisted spinners.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the first bowler to provide breakthroughs, dismissing Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis cheaply. However, Rahul held the innings tightly from one end to help his side crawl to 27/2 in the first six overs.
KL Rahul stitched together a good partnership with Krunal Pandya before trying to take the attack to the opposition in the 10th over. He hit his counterpart, Pat Cummins, for a boundary of the first ball before holing out to T Natarajan at fine leg in the final delivery of the over.
Fans were extremely annoyed with KL Rahul's sluggish knock and slammed him on social media. Here are a few reactions:
A few fans also asserted that Rahul is justifying the BCCI's decision to leave him out of India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad with his below-par performances in the IPL 2024.
"KL Rahul not even playing Run a ball, he is justifying BCCI for dropping him from world cup squad. Thank you Ajit Agarkar for saving us from this terror," a fan wrote.
"Thank You @BCCI for removing Parasite named KL Rahul urf BKL from India's T20 setup!! I hope they kick him out of ODIs & Tests too, we have Samson & Dhruv now to keep in those 2 formats. Remove this parasite from all formats!!" another fan commented.
"KL Rahul showing why he was not an ideal Wicket Keeper option," wrote another fan.
KL Rahul not named in India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad
With too many players vying for the wicketkeeper's slot, Indian selectors went with Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson as dedicated glovesmen for the 2024 T20 World Cup. They had to leave out the likes of KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Jitesh Sharma.
While Karthik should feel unlucky to miss out despite being in stellar form in the IPL, Jitesh went down in the pecking order due to worrying form for the Punjab Kings.
KL Rahul, meanwhile, gave a good account for himself with the bat, but his inability to convert the starts into big knocks played a part in his ouster. He crossed the 20-run mark in 11 out of 13 innings but could only register three half-centuries.