Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) stood against everyone’s expectations and defeated and knocked out Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
RCB has taken a huge step toward securing their maiden IPL title as they won by 14 runs to move to the Qualifier 2, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
READ | Rajat Patidar to Devdutt Padikkal – Centuries smashed by uncapped players in IPL
Rajat Patidar was the star of the show as he powered RCB to 207 runs with his century, which they defended in the end. LSG skipper KL Rahul went on to knock off 79 from 58 deliveries, but he could not help the team’s cause.
Soon after the match, a few fans and former cricketers questioned KL Rahul’s approach in the middle overs.
#SanjuSamson with just 6 batters playing aggressively throughout the tournament where as #KLRahul with huge batting depth still struggling to show intent .
— Nikhil (@Attitudist) May 26, 2022
I’m nervous to think what lies in store for #TeamIndia in the upcoming #INDvSA #T20I series, given that #KLRahul will be leading #IND
He is a brilliant batter … but only in ODIs and, recently, in Tests
But as captain he doesn’t have a clue about ANYTHING#LSGvRCB #RCBvLSG
— Syed Yusuf Mehdi (@yusufmehdi) May 26, 2022
He needs to bat quicker not longer. #LSGvRCB #KLRahul https://t.co/07VRhEWttf
— Abhisek (@abhi_ab93) May 26, 2022
Many criticised the captain for his team’s slow chase, however, the leader said RCB’s bowling in the middle overs made it difficult for them to smash some big shots at regular intervals.
“Now looking back it is just about two big hits in the middle overs and that could have gotten us over the line. It’s not that we didn’t try to hit those four and sixes, we were trying but I think in the middle they bowled really well,” Rahul told the press.
Rahul further added that Harshal Patel’s overs in the middle pegged them back which took away the much-needed momentum.
“In the middle, I think Harshal’s (Patel) two in the middle I think pushed us back a little bit because he went off 7 or 8 runs. He didn’t give away much and he really changed the pace when he bowled to the field and that’s where we were pushed back a little bit,” Rahul added.
“As I said, it was just 2 hits away and if we couldn’t that in the middle overs, probably we would have won this game.”
KL Rahul talks about dropped catches:
Dinesh Karthik and Rajat Patidar – both dangerous batters saw getting saving graces which had cost LSG 30-40 extra runs. While the RCB wicketkeeper was dropped on two, Patidar was giving as many as three chances.
“You can have a bad day, you can go wrong with the execution with bat and ball, but something that really let us down badly is our fielding. We dropped some easy catches. I dropped DK when was probably batting on single-digit.
“Patidar, I think was dropped when he was on 60 or 70. Dropping them cost us those extra 30-40 runs. But I think we really fought hard to chase down the target to the best of our ability,” Rahul added.
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