"KL Rahul Putting Pressure On Others": Brett Lee Critical about LSG Captain's Approach

Lucknow Super giants(LSG) were among the top contenders to qualify for the playoffs, unfortunately, all is not well in the franchise of late. The star Aussie All-Rounder Marcus Stoinis has played a couple of good knocks to keep Lucknow closer to the top 4 if not exactly in it, but when it comes to performance from the top order their skipper, KL Rahul hasn't been able to perform to the expectations. In the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Lucknow chasing a big total of 236 KL Rahul scored just 25 runs from 21 balls with a poor Strike Rate of 119.05.

Australian Cricketer Brett Lee was critical of KL Rahul's intent at the top of the order and feels it's putting a lot of pressure on the incoming batters.

Brett Lee On KL Rahul

"I think if you look at both opening batters from both sides, it's a complete contrast. KKR have got it right. They're out of the blocks quickly, they're scoring runs. And then you got KL Rahul on the other side, that's, you know, getting a run a ball and putting a lot of pressure on the back end. You know, we saw four games and I picked KL Rahul here, the first four games he played," he said on Jio Cinema.

"His strike rate was 129, then he went to 150 and now he's come back and said, 'well, yeah, you know the bowlers have done a great job. I think there's a lot of pressure on him because he hasn't scored the runs he should be," Brett Lee added.

At the post-match presentation, Rahul himself accepted that his side was outplayed in all the 3 departments Batting, Bowling, and Fielding.

Rahul's Statement at Post-Match Presentation

"It was a lot of runs to be scored in the second innings. When you are chasing a big total, you are trying to go too hard and you end up losing wickets. Just a poor performance overall. We didn't (hit our lengths on a consistent basis), just been a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field. Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, in the powerplay, we've seen how they bat and they do put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Our young bowlers couldn't handle that kind of pressure and he hit some really good shots. That's how IPL is, you come up against really good players and that's when your character is tested. We weren't up to the mark," he said after the match.