LUCKNOW: Skipper KL Rahul hasn’t ever been “plagued” by way of captaincy, stated Lucknow Super Giants fielding trainer Jonty Rhodes after the opener struck his first fifty of IPL 2023.
A prolific run-getter within the IPL, Rahul smashed 74 off 56 balls albeit in a two-wicket loss.
Rahul had additionally captained the Punjab Kings and Rhodes used to be a part of that improve personnel.
“The captain is someone who likes to lead from the front. He has always been a successful, dominating batter in all the IPLs. Captaincy isn’t something that’s ever plagued him.
LSG vs PBKS Highlights 2023: Raza, Curran shine as Punjab Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants by two wickets
“Many nice batters when given captaincy do not somewhat deal with it. He’s led from the entrance and I feel it is nice to look that,” Rhodes said at the post-match conference.
The opener, however, struggled to get going this season, managing a high score of 35 before Saturday’s knock.
“When the captain is scoring runs, the best way that he performs he lays a actually just right platform for others to mess around them.”
“We all the time knew that he used to be only one knock away. He’s been batting within the nets beautifully. He’s no longer the type of participant any one worries about as a result of we all the time knew it is actually one innings away.”
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Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan star as Punjab Kings edge Lucknow Super Giants
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Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza’s half-century and some late boundaries from Shahrukh Khan led Punjab Kings to a two-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants.
Raza made 57 in Punjab’s chase of 160 before departing in the 18th over
Shahrukh hit an unbeaten 23 off 10 balls to steer the team home with three balls to spare.
Raza started slowly but soon found his groove as he smashed four fours and three sixes in his 41-ball knock before falling to Ravi Bishnoi’s leg-spin on a tough pitch.
Shahrukh top-edged a six off Mark Wood in the penultimate over and hit the winning boundary off Bishnoi as Punjab moved fourth in the 10-team table.
Sam Curran set up Punjab’s win with bowling figures of 3-31 as he stood in as captain following an injury to regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan.
Curran and Kagiso Rabada shared five wickets between them to limit Lucknow to 159-8.
Lucknow skipper KL Rahul made 74 — his first half-century of the season — and took a stunning diving catch wide of mid-off but his efforts failed to inspire the Super Giants
LSG slipped to their second loss in five matches.
Punjab initially stuttered in their chase after losing their openers to debutant pace bowler Yudhvir Singh and then Australian Matthew Short for 34.
But Pakistan-born Raza kept calm to keep the Kings in the hunt despite losing regular wickets including Curran for six.
Against Punjab, when all other LSG batters failed to make an impact, Rahul batted till the 19th over but Rhodes felt the skipper could have stayed around and provided the final flourish.
“I feel he himself might be glad with the best way the knock became out these days however in all probability may just’ve batted deeper,” he added.