The KL Rahul of 2018 makes an appearance in Lucknow

What KL Rahul did against Chennai Super Kings on April 19 (Friday) reminded everyone of the KL Rahul of 2018. The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper hammered 82 off 53 deliveries and once again showed everyone what he can do when he decides to play fearless cricket.

The 2018 version of Rahul was a different beast. He wasn’t afraid of taking on bowlers early in the innings, scoring 659 runs at a strike rate of close to 160. Then, for some reason, he became conservative from 2018 to 2023, and his strike rate became a major topic of discussion. 

Rahul, this year has been different. Maybe he now understands that “strike rate is rightly-rated”. The 32-year-old is more worried about the rate at which he is scoring runs than the amount of runs he is scoring.

In IPL 2024, Rahul has hit 286 runs across seven innings at 40.86 and a strike rate of 143 — the highest for him since the 2018 edition. In five out of seven innings, Rahul has operated at a strike rate of more than 142.

This knock was always on the cards, considering he was getting a start in every game. He had just one half-century in the first innings but was not once dismissed for a score of less than 15. He was coming into this match off the back of three consecutive 30-plus scores and would have been eager to convert one into a big score. 

Thanks to MS Dhoni’s 9-ball 28*, CSK posted a challenging total of 176 in the first innings on a slightly tricky Ekana surface. The Super Giants have never been a good chasing side, with a win percentage of less than 30 while batting second, so there was pressure on Rahul when he walked out to bat alongside Quinton de Kock.

Chennai don’t have big names in their bowling line-up, but they work well as a unit and have been one of the best bowling sides in this year’s IPL. But CSK are also a team against whom Rahul has done extremely well in the past, having had the better of Deepak Chahar numerous times.

And it was against him in the third over when Rahul decided to break free and give LSG some much-needed momentum in the run-chase. The opener was gifted a half-tracker for his first boundary through the deep mid-wicket region. In the same over, he brought out another pull shot, this time sending the ball over the long-on fence.

De Kock was clearly struggling to time the ball at the other end, so Rahul took the onus of scoring runs in the first six overs. Mustafizur Rahman was driven down the ground, while Tushar Deshpande was pulled over short fine-leg. Rahul was timing the ball like a dream, even slapping Chahar over cover for an eye-pleasing six.

LSG were 54/0 at the end of six overs, with de Kock batting on 18 off 16, while Rahul raced to 34 off 20 - the most he has scored in the powerplay since IPL 2020. Rahul has batted with a lot of intent in the first six overs this season, striking at 154.1. Only once (IPL 2018 - 157.6) in a season has he operated at a quicker rate in the powerplay.

Also read - Rahul’s improved intent in the powerplay a welcome change

He was particularly aggressive against Mustafizur Rahman, Chahar, and Ravindra Jadeja, using the square boundaries to great effect. He scored 40 percent of his runs through the point region, playing those late cuts like he always does with ease. 

He and de Kock completely shut down Chennai in the chase by putting up an opening partnership of 134 in 15 overs. Not once did they allow CSK to get that required rate up. Jadeja pulled off a one-handed blinder at point to send Rahul back to the hut in the 18th over but the job was very well done by then.

“I have been trying to assess the situation, and today, it came off. Chennai's spinners tried to put brakes on us. We tried to get to a good start. We tried to take them down, but luckily, it came off. When your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. I'm glad that it happened,” said Rahul after being named Player of the Match.

Lucknow eventually hunted down the target with an over to spare and got their only sixth win in 17 games while chasing in the IPL. This not only gave LSG an important win after back-to-back defeats but also gave their skipper a reminder of what he is actually capable of.

Play Asli Fantasy on Cricket.com. Download the App Now.