KL Rahul played an attacking innings. It helped Lucknow Super Giants win against Chennai Super Kings. Aakash Chopra praised Rahul’s knock.
Chennai set a 177-run target. On April 19, Lucknow chased it down comfortably. KL Rahul scored a blistering 82 off 53 balls. With 8 wickets and an over left, Lucknow won their 4th match in 7 games.
In a video posted to his YouTube account, Chopra congratulated Rahul for his much better strike rate in the IPL 2024 season.
“KL Rahul – batting was absolutely stellar. We saw kamaal Rahul’s lajawab batting. If you see his strike rate in the powerplay this year and compare it with the last five years, he is scoring almost 35 extra runs (per 100 balls). He used to go at a strike rate of 105-115 and is going at 154 this time.”
Aakash Chopra
The former India opener stated that the LSG captain played a good innings against a difficult assault and might have stayed undefeated if Ravindra Jadeja had not made a wonderful catch to eliminate him.
“Even in the overall strike rate, you can see that there is a definite spike. Against this bowling, especially against (Matheesha) Pathirana, Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande, this team pushes you a little, but he batting extremely well. It was Jaddu’s flying catch in the end, or else he would have finished the match and gone.”
Aakash Chopra
Nine fours and three sixes were hit by Rahul in his 82-run innings. A sensational one-handed catch by Jadeja at backward point ended Rahul’s innings off Pathirana’s bowling when LSG needed 16 more runs for victory.
“If Quinton fires along with him, it is enjoyable” – Aakash Chopra on KL Rahul’s partnership with Quinton de Kock
Aakash Chopra believes Quinton de Kock (54 off 43) would have complemented KL Rahul brilliantly, making it even more entertaining for LSG.
“Player of the Match knock from KL Rahul and you expect him to do that. It was important for him to score runs to bring his team back on track. So KL scoring runs was good and if Quinton fires along with him, it is enjoyable. Quinton was going at a run-a-ball at the start, struggling a little, but then his wagon also caught the rhythm.”
Aakash Chopra
The well-known pundit also applauded Nicholas Pooran (23* off 12) for ensuring his team crossed the line with an over to spare.
“He (De Kock) also scored runs. He got a life but he scored a fifty and KL Rahul scored 82. Whatever job was left, Nicky P came and did that, and Chennai were handed another away defeat. They are struggling slightly away from home. They played well at home. In the end, they won by eight wickets, so it was almost a one-sided victory.”
Aakash Chopra
CSK fell to their third defeat in four road games. They have won all three of their home games, while their sole away success was against the Mumbai Indians (MI).