IPL 2020: KL Rahul has done very well as a captain, says Brian Lara

Former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara is pretty impressed with KL Rahul’s leadership skills in the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). As a captain, the Bangalore-born wasn’t having the greatest of times as his team Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) were languishing at the bottom of the points table. The Mohali-based franchise were missing out despite getting themselves in winning positions.

However, KXIP have managed to stage a comeback, winning their last three games, pushing them up to fifth in the points table. Their last victory came against the Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets on Tuesday, October 20 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

I love the way KL Rahul bats, says Lara

Lara said that Rahul has worked on his finishing skills, which were a bit lacking earlier in the tournament. The Caribbean legend was also in awe of Rahul’s versatility as a batsman, saying that the latter knows the art of moulding his game as per the match situations.

“He’s my test batsman, he’s my 50-over batsman and he’s my T20 batsman. As a captain, he has done very well. I love the way he bats, love the way he puts them together. Yes, he struggled to finish off matches towards the beginning but now he’s looking to improve that too,” Lara was quoted as saying in Star Sports.

Earlier, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra also lauded Rahul for his captaincy. The veteran reckoned that Rahul could succeed Virat Kohli as Team India’s captain.

“I have hope that his captaincy will be good. Actually, we will get an idea of his captaincy, how he runs the game, what strategies he uses. If we see Kohli and Rohit (Sharma), they are of the same age bracket and at one time you may feel that they are not captain material anymore,” he had said.

Rahul is currently the leading run-scorer in the ongoing edition of the T20 tournament. The right-hander has 540 runs from 10 matches at an average and strike-rate of 67.50 and 135.67 respectively.

His unbeaten 132 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) remains the highest score by a captain in the history of the cash-rich and prestigious T20 extravaganza.

As far as the ongoing IPL is concerned, KXIP are next set to face the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday, October 24 in Dubai itself.