KL Rahul's critics blasted for not giving him enough credit after ton vs GT: ‘Criticism around him quite extraordinary’
Tom Moody wasn't impressed with KL Rahul's critics and claimed that he's a better player than many give him credit for.
Delhi Capitals senior batter KL Rahul scored a fine century on Sunday, which went in a losing cause against Gujarat Titans at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Rahul returned to the opening slot after Jake Fraser-Mcgurk didn't return to India for the resumption of IPL 2025. The star batter took onus on himself to anchor the innings and scored his first century in Delhi's outfit. He reached his century in 60 balls and went on to score 112 not out at a strike rate of 172.30.
Rahul and DC started slow on Sunday as the team was 28/1 in 5 overs with the senior batter in the middle on 19 off 17 balls. However, the opening batter took his time and started smashing the bowlers after getting set and helped DC reach 199/3 on the scoreboard. However, Titans comfortably chased down the target with an over to spare and 10 wickets in hand.
After Delhi lost the match, Rahul faced criticism for his slow start to the innings, but former Australian cricketer Tom Moody wasn't impressed and claimed that he's a better player than many give him credit for.
"I always find the criticism around KL Rahul quite extraordinary," Moody said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out. "I think he's a lot better player than a lot of people give him credit for. And the way I look at this innings, I think it's an outstanding innings. And yeah, look, it'll depend who wins the game to whether he's, you know, the Player of the Match or not. But the way I look at this and I look at the batting card, what's let them down and not reaching that 220 is the other batters that were in only struck at 150. On a [batting-friendly] surface, you want impact," he added.
Rahul, known for his success as an opener with former teams, looked in total command — skillfully placing cut shots through the off-side and effortlessly clearing the boundary.
‘Instead of pointing the finger at the same person…’: Moody supports KL Rahul
Moody criticised the other batters in Delhi's line-up for not providing the impact which was required to take the team to 220 when Rahul was anchoring them well from one end, scoring boundaries at regular intervals.
"When you've got someone in there that's anchoring, that's building the total, your role when you come in is to impact the game - 30 off ten balls, those types of innings, that suddenly take you to that 220. Instead of pointing the finger at the same person, I think it's the other way around," he added.
