Lucknow Super Giants’ skipper, KL Rahul faced the wrath of social media, following his team’s seven-run defeat against Gujarat Titans on Saturday, 22 April. Despite facing what should have been a comfortably attainable target of 136 runs in match 30 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Rahul’s team could only conjure up 128 runs – and that too – after scoring 53 runs in the first six overs.
Lucknow’s innings, however, went into second gear since the West Indian opener, Kyle Mayers’ dismissal in the seventh over. None of the other batters could get any momentum in their innings, whilst the skipper himself played a rather bizarre knock.
Albeit he deserves credit for holding the fort on what is a tricky batting surface at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, scoring 68 runs, Rahul also ended up facing 61 deliveries – with his strike rate being only 111.48.
Interestingly, besides this being his 33rd half-century in IPL, it was also the 16th occasion wherein a KL Rahul fifty resulted in defeat for the team he was representing. Lucknow managed to score only 23 runs in the last six overs, despite their skipper being at the crease till the very last over.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Rahul’s knock:
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