IPL 2020: KXIP’s KL Rahul not concerned about his low strike-rates

For KL Rahul, the skipper of the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), winning a game for his team is much more important to him than maintaining a high strike-rate. Through he has been striking at 136.68, his numbers in the powerplay are just 113.3, something which shows that he prefers to be cautious and not throw his wicket away.

Even on Thursday’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai, he got 11 off 16 balls before Abhishek Sharma accounted for his wicket. When Nicholas Pooran was taking the SRH bowlers to the cleaners, Rahul was focussed on getting his eyes in. The Mohali-based franchise went on to lose the match by 69 runs and remained at the bottom of the points table.

We all make mistakes: KL Rahul

Rahul feels that as a skipper of a team, he needs to assume more responsibility. “Strike-rates are very, very overrated. For me, it’s only about how I can win games for my team. On a certain day if 120 can win the game for my team, I will do that. This is how I bat and I like to take responsibility. As a leader, you have to take responsibility,” Rahul was quoted as saying after the game.

“We all make mistakes. I am not saying that I haven’t made a few mistakes. But you learn each day as a leader and as a batter. It’s a partnership when we are in the middle as a batting group. Every player has different roles in the team and those roles can change in the middle with each game and with each day. So, I try to do the best I can for the team,” he added.

Though KXIP haven’t had the best of campaigns, Rahul, individually, has had a decent time. He is currently among the leading run-scorers in the tournament. In fact, he is the top run-getter for KXIP as well, having scored 313 runs at an average of 62.60.

He also scored an unbeaten 132 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Dubai after Virat Kohli dropped him twice. It turned out to be the highest score by a captain in the history of the IPL.