‘He’s a breath of fresh air. You can switch on TV and watch him bat all day’ | Cricket

New entrants Lucknow Super Giants are currently in the fourth spot on IPL 2022 points table, having five wins and three losses from eight games, and a lot of credit should be given to their skipper KL Rahul. The 30-year-old Indian has led from the front to emerge among leading run-getters of the ongoing 10-team competition. (Follow IPL 2022 Coverage)

He has got a wide array of shots in his batting arsenal and Rahul has been sublime at the top this season. He has already hit two hundreds — both against Mumbai Indians — and a fifty-plus score this season. Only Jos Buttler has got more runs than Rahul, who has amassed 386 runs in eight games at a 140-plus strike rate. The former Punjab Kings skipper entered the tournament on the back of four consecutive 500-run seasons in the IPL.

Rahul’s ability to score runs with immaculate batting technique has impressed legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who lavished praise on the LSG skipper’s shot-making ability.

“He’s been outstanding. The best part about KL Rahul’s batting is that nothing is agricultural in his cricketing shots. Every shot that he plays is a proper textbook stroke,” said the India great on Cricket Live on Star Sports.

“So what he has actually told you with his shot-making skills is that you don’t have to manufacture shots. If you’ve got the shots, use them and the selection of his shots has been outstanding.”

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen also heaped praise on Rahul’s free-flowing stroke-play and labelled the Indian as a “360-degree” batter. “He has a wide range of shots in his armoury. So he can hit you over back-foot point, he can slice you for a six. He can hit you over extra-cover, he can hit you down the ground, and he can pick you over midwicket.

“So, he really is a 360-degree batter. I mean, he’s a breath of fresh air. You can switch on the TV and watch him bat all day,” said Pietersen.

While Gavaskar and Pietersen talked about Rahul’s craft with the bat, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan underlined the Karnataka batter’s ability to shift gears according to the situation.

“Lokesh Rahul is the batsman who can increase or decrease the striker rate according to the situation. He has the style, the elegance and aggression to build his innings the way he wants,” said the World Cup-winning all-rounder.

“He has a sound technique and a good temperament. He is gauging the situations and batting accordingly. Rahul knows very well when he needs to shift gears,” he further added.