"Sometimes ex-cricketers need some masala to remain active" - Gautam Gambhir takes a dig at KL Rahul's critics ahead of IPL 2023
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes KL Rahul is under no pressure to perform for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2023 season as there is a huge difference between IPL and international cricket.
Gambhir is now the Global Mentor of the Super Giant franchise and spent a lot of time with KL Rahul and Co. during LSG's inaugural IPL season last year. He took an indirect dig at former cricketers like Venkatesh Prasad, who have been critical of Rahul's form of late.
Speaking to Sports Tak, Gautam Gambhir reminded KL Rahul's critics that he has four IPL hundreds to his name, out of which two came last year. He said:
“How Rahul has fared in the IPL? He has 4-5 centuries in the tournament. And you are talking about a player who has already slammed 4-5 centuries. Even last season he scored a century against Mumbai Indians.
"Sometimes ex-cricketers need some masala to remain active. According to me, the kind of player KL is, he won't be under any kind of pressure. You can't win a tournament with one player. The 25 players who are inside the dressing room help you win the tournament."
He added:
"International cricket and IPL are different from each other. If you don't perform in international cricket despite scoring 1000 runs in IPL, you will still have to deal with criticism. After all, only 15 players get a chance to play for India. In IPL, more than 150 players get selected."
Gautam Gambhir on LSG's performance last season
Gautam Gambhir also shed light on how LSG performed last season, with Rahul leading by example with 616 runs. He feels it was a great performance and is hopeful of LSG doing well in IPL 2023 too.
On this, Gambhir stated:
"Last time we (Lucknow Super Giants) finished at No. 3 and it was a tough fight between RR and LSG. Obviously, only one team can lift the trophy. And Gujarat won the IPL, they played excellent cricket last season.
"And if you take a look at the performance of Lucknow in their debut season, they finished 3rd only because of the NRR. If you finish 2nd in IPL, you get 2 chances at the playoffs."
KL Rahul looks in good form in the ongoing ODI series against Australia and LSG will hope that he is able to replicate that form in the IPL.