KL Rahul's T20 World Cup Spot In Jeopardy, Questions Over 'Intent' Arise Again

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul continued his horrid run with the bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL), adding more fuel to the fire of speculations about his place in India's T20I set-up ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup starting in West Indies/USA from June 1 onwards. In the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium, KL played a struggling, conservative T20 knock, scoring just 33 runs in 31 balls, with three boundaries. His runs came at a sub-par strike rate of 106.45.

Having played four IPL matches so far, KL has scored only 126 runs at an average of 31.50, with an underwhelming strike rate of 128.57. He has scored a half-century, a knock of 58 in 44 balls against RR, but has otherwise registered scores of 15 in nine balls, 20 in 14 balls, and 33.

The wicketkeeper-batter has been disappointing with the bat in the IPL since the 2023 edition, a season which was cut short by an injury. In the 2023 IPL, KL scored 274 runs in nine matches at an average of 34.25 and a sub-par strike rate of 113.22, with two half-centuries and best score of 74.

Overall since IPL 2023, KL has featured in 13 matches for LSG, scoring 400 runs at an average of 33.33, with a strike rate of just over 117. He has scored three fifties, with the best score of 74. Though other numbers still seem fine, his strike rate looks really ordinary for a format that requires openers to hit big from ball one.

Of 57 players who have faced at least 150 balls across the last two IPLs, KL is the only batter with a strike rate of below 120.

This raises concern over KL's intent while batting, as Ishan Kishan (170.37 strike rate), Sanju Samson (150.84 strike rate), Jitesh Sharma (126.08 strike rate) and Rishabh Pant (154.54) have shown