KL Rahul played four more balls than Rajat Patidar and ended up scoring 33 runs less. It's a harsh comparison. A tad unfair too. But in a knockout T20 match in which 400 runs were scored, the stark difference in strike rate between the topscorers of both the sides is sure to have an impact on the outcome of the match. And it did. Patidar's Royal Challengers Bangalore posted 207/4 while Lucknow Super Giants stopped at 193/6 despite their captain Rahul batting almost till the 19th over. Rahul scored 79 off 58 balls but got out while trying to play a lap shot off Josh Hazlewood in the penultimate over of the match, leaving LSG with a towering task of getting 28 runs from 7 balls.
Former India cricketers Ravi Shastri and Dodda Ganesh reacted to Rahul's knock and said the LSG captain should have gone after the bowling a bit more. Former India head coach Shastri said Rahul should have taken more risks between the 9th 14th over when he was batting with Deepak Hooda.
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"They should have gone a little earlier. Sometimes, you wait too long but here, between the 9th and the 14th over, they should have been someone who should have been targeted, especially in that partnership," Ravi Shastri told Star Sports.
"When Hooda and Rahul were going, I think even though he did as well as he did, KL could have taken a little more chances because Hooda was going. Take a little more chances and he could have targetted someone between the 9th and the 13th over because Harshal was going to come back in the end.
"If they had got the required rate down at the stage, that would have made RCB a little nervous," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"If they had got the required rate down at the stage, that would have made RCB a little nervous," he added.
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Former India fast bowler Ganesh said he 'didn't understand Rahul's batting in the middle overs of the LSG chase.
"Rajat Patidar: 112 off 54 balls. KL Rahul: 79 off 58 balls. These two contrasting innings decided the fate of the game. Didn’t quite understand what KL was doing in the middle overs knocking 1s & 2s. You’ve all the shots but still don’t want to play it?" he tweeted.
Rahul, for his part, blamed the lacklustre fielding of his side for the loss.
"I think it's quite obvious - the reasons why we didn't win. We let ourselves down in the field. Dropping easy catches never helps. The difference was obviously Patidar playing such a knock. When someone in the top three scores a hundred, more often the team wins," Rahul said after the match.
Patidar was dropped thrice on the day en route his hundred and Rahul was livid with his team's fielding.
"They fielded really well and we were poor," he summed it up.
He however was happy that as a new franchise they finished in top four in their first season.
"We'll take back a lot of positives. It's a new franchise. We've made a lot of mistakes, every team does that. Have to try and come back stronger. It's a young team. They'll learn from their mistakes, go back home and try and be better players."