Legendary Australian pacer Brett Lee has criticized KL Rahul for his approach in T20 cricket, alleging that the LSG skipper is putting a lot of pressure on other batters. Lee focused on Rahul’s strike rate in the first few games, suggesting that he may have struggled to keep up the pace and live up to expectations due to pressure.

Despite ranking among the top 5 run scorers in the IPL 2024, Rahul has come under fire for his strike rate. Rahul was also snubbed from the Indian team that will participate in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Both captain Rohit Sharma and head selector Ajit Agarkar chose Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson as wicket-keepers, citing the need for middle-order batting alternatives.

“I believe there is an obvious gap between the two opening batters in both teams. KKR are rocking it. They get going from the first ball and score runs. On the other side, you have KL, who starts with a run a ball and puts a lot of pressure on his own teammates. We observed four games, and I chose KL Rahul here. He started with a strike rate of 129, upped it to 150, and then returned to say, ‘Well, yeah, you know the bowlers did a great job.’ I believe he is under a lot of strain because he hasn’t scored as many runs as he needs to,” claimed Lee.

KKR defeated LSG by 98 runs to take the top spot in the IPL 2024 points table. After the crushing defeat, LSG captain KL Rahul called his team’s performance poor but also singled out the bowlers. For the sixth time in their last 11 games, Sunil Narine and Phil Salt led KKR to a 70-run partnership in the powerplay overs.

In the eight over of their chase of 236 runs, LSG skipper KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis were set and posted 70 for 1. Since, Rahul could only muster 25 runs off 21 deliveries and the required run rate increased above 13 runs per over. With almost four overs left, they were bowled out for 137 after losing 9 wickets for 67 runs in less than nine overs.

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