IPL 2020: Is captaincy putting too much pressure on KL Rahul the batsman?
Kannur Lokesh Rahul (KL Rahul) is deemed as the next captain of the Indian cricket team when the current skipper Virat Kohli decides to do away with the top job. The selectors and management have shown enough trust on the Karnataka-born over the last few years and have given him many chances to ensure that his talent doesn’t go waste. KL has been doing exceptionally well as a batsman for the Indian team from the past one year and has proved himself as an accomplished batsman in the national line-up across ODIs and T20Is.
Rahul had shown a glimpse of his leadership abilities during the India tour of New Zealand earlier this year after stand-in captain Rohit Sharma hurt himself while batting. The 28-year-old was also named as the captain of his IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab for the 2020 edition of the league and many in the cricket fraternity were hoping to see the swashbuckling batsman taking up the reins of captaincy.
Captaincy issues in IPL
However, Rahul’s first year as IPL captain has been a shocker so far. Though he looked in great touch in the beginning of the tournament, after losing a close match against Delhi Capitals and a big win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he has been on the decline since then both as a captain and a batsman. The team is standing last at the points tally with just one win out of seven matches and is almost out of the competition.
Despite being the holder of the Orange Cap with 367 runs at an average of 64.50, the captain has not been able to take his team to the finishing line. This is because Rahul’s strike rate has a problem despite his run spree. There have been instances where Rahul has been found playing slow innings which has resulted in the team coming under pressure and losing the match. Despite having many wickets in the hand, Rahul has failed to accelerate his innings towards the end.
Thus it would not be wrong to say that the pressure of leading his side has forced KL Rahul to bring a significant change in his batting approach. Unlike his natural game, Rahul is playing his first 30 balls with a strike rate of below 120. For the same reason, the Karnataka Stalwart had given up on his wicketkeeping too.
It seems that Rahul is succumbing to pressure as he often fails to rotate his bowlers properly on the field and has made bad tactical decisions. The batting order of the players also seems to be messed up and it was one of the major reasons for the team’s loss against KKR.
But overall, Punjab’s loss in the tournament can’t be entirely blamed on the captain as no other player from the team was seen taking the responsibility apart from the opening batsman Mayank Agarwal. It is often said that a captain is as good as his team and despite many good players in the team, things are not working out for KXIP. But the man will certainly gain a lot of insights from his experience gained from the mission and would learn faster for the future.
