LUCKNOW: Skipper KL Rahul has never been “plagued” by captaincy, said
Lucknow Super Giants fielding coach
Jonty Rhodes after the opener struck his first fifty of
IPL 2023.A prolific run-getter in the
IPL, Rahul smashed 74 off 56 balls albeit in a two-wicket loss.
Rahul had also captained the
Punjab Kings and Rhodes was part of that support staff.
“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 great batters when given captaincy don’t quite handle it. He’s led from the front and I think it’s great to see 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 way that he plays he lays a really good platform for others to play around them.”
“We always knew that he was just one knock away. He’s been batting in the nets superbly. He’s not the kind of player anybody worries about because we always know it’s literally one innings away.”
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Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan star as Punjab Kings edge Lucknow Super Giants
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<p>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.</p>
<p>Raza made 57 in Punjab’s chase of 160 before departing in the 18th over</p>
<p>Shahrukh hit an unbeaten 23 off 10 balls to steer the team home with three balls to spare.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Curran and Kagiso Rabada shared five wickets between them to limit Lucknow to 159-8.</p>
<p>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</p>
<p>LSG slipped to their second loss in five matches.</p>
<p>Punjab initially stuttered in their chase after losing their openers to debutant pace bowler Yudhvir Singh and then Australian Matthew Short for 34.</p>
<p>But Pakistan-born Raza kept calm to keep the Kings in the hunt despite losing regular wickets including Curran for six.<br /></p>
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 think he himself will be satisfied with the way the knock turned out today but possibly could’ve batted deeper,” he added.
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