IPL 2022 | KL Rahul should have taken little more chances while chasing, opines Ravi Shastri
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has opined that KL Rahul should have been more attacking with his intent for LSG while chasing a target of 208 against RCB in the Eliminator. Rahul scored 79 runs from 58 balls but the team lost the contest by 14 runs knocking themselves out of IPL 2022.
Lucknow Super Giants suffered a defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 14 runs in the playoffs and are ruled out of the IPL 2022. RCB batted first and posted a total of 207/4 courtesy of a century from Rajat Patidar. Chasing a target above 200 in a pressure match was going to be tough. LSG were reduced to 41/2 early in the innings but Deepak Hooda and KL Rahul steadied the innings.
Rahul scored a fifty in the match but his approach during the chase was questionable. He scored 26 runs from 17 balls in the powerplay but hit only one boundary in next seven overs in spite of the required run rate rising up. The team managed just 49 runs between over 7 to 13 and the increasing asking run rate took toll on them.
"They should have gone a little earlier. Sometimes, you wait too long but here, between the 9th and the 14th over, they should have been someone who should have been targeted, especially in that partnership," Ravi Shastri told Star Sports.
"When Hooda and Rahul were going, I think even though he did as well as he did, KL could have taken a little more chances because Hooda was going. Take a little more chances and he could have targetted someone between the 9th and the 13th over because Harshal was going to come back in the end.
"If they had got the required rate down at the stage, that would have made RCB a little nervous."
Rahul’s knock was a pretty slow one considering the number of runs the team was chasing in 20 overs. LSG will now aim to come back next season and show a more improved version of themselves.