Being a team’s leading performer comes with its range of difficulties. KL Rahul quickly understands it. He is not only the captain of Kings XI Punjab but also the top scorer of the IPL and the first-choice wicketkeeper of the team as well.
The burden is obviously on Rahul, with so many hats to carry, to come up with trumps every single moment.
In a batting line-up that is still to fire in unison consistently, except for Mayank Agarwal, the tall opener seems to have assigned itself the position of a sheet anchor to last until the end and give a fillip in the late overs to KXIP’s score.
Often that could backfire, as it looked like it was against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
He nearly played almost a run-a-ball innings until the 14th over to hit 46 runs off 44 balls.
The KXIP then was 114/2. Rahul reached his 18th half-century in the next over, 14 of those were scored starting from 2018 in three seasons, with a massive six over long-off against Shardul Thakur and then showed purpose with two straight fours.
But the next time the medium-pacer CSK bowled, Rahul edged to MS Dhoni. And over two overs remain then, and with the scoreboard reading 152/4, KXIP loses their set batsman on 63.
On a day when the KXIP batsmen got some critical support with cameos from Mandeep Singh (27, 16b), Agarwal (26, 19b), Nicholas Pooran (33, 17b), and Glenn Maxwell-Sarfaraz Khan’s smart finish, Rahul ended up having the lowest strike rate of all.
It can be argued that until the last one he saved himself, but it also meant that in the process he lost quite a few balls as KXIP reached 178/4 in 20 overs.
The comeback of CSK’s :
The dismissal of Rahul gave CSK impetus. With openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis leading their team back to the winning track after three straight defeats, they carried it in their search.
As CSK reached the goal with 14 balls to spare, the duo scored a half-century each. Their opening stand of 181 is also the highest against KXIP, exceeding 147 in 2016 in Bengaluru by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli.
The win came as a welcome relaxation for the side led by MS Dhoni, who was criticized at the beginning for their sluggish approach. Question marks on their health, as well as their ability to chase, were present.
After the authority shown by Watson and du Plessis over the KXIP bowlers, all these questions will undoubtedly stop for now. The opening combination broke the momentum of the opposition early with 60 runs scored in the powerplay.
KXIP never recovered from the shock of that.
Rahul might know that some extra runs could have provided a cushion for his bowlers. In the last five overs, additional support still counts for a bowling line-up that has the worst economy of 16 RPOs.
Rahul was always destined to lead the side after R Ashwin departed from KXIP. His status is now secured and the confidence he has repaid. But Rahul will do well to get some of his destructive batting styles back into action instead of putting too much pressure on himself.
