'We haven't allowed him to play his natural game': LSG assistant coach Lance Klusener defends KL Rahul, calls his numbers 'not bat at all'

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) assistant coach Lance Klusener has justified the need for captain KL Rahul to hold back in powerplay overs amidst widespread criticism. Once again, Rahul's strike rate has been under the scanner. He is seventh on the list of leading run-getters in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 but his strike rate of 136.36 has been found below-par as LSG are all but out of the playoff race with one game to go.
 

Ahead of the must-win encounter against Mumbai Indians, the former South Africa all-rounder has termed Rahul's numbers "not bat at all". Also, he blames wickets falling at the other end for Rahul not being able to go after the bowlers.
 

"He's had some great performances over the tournament. He's had to rebuild a lot of the times. We've lost wickets around him. We haven't allowed him to play his natural game," he said ahead of LSG’s last league clash as quoted by PTI.
 

“It's easy to just sit and think, ‘oh, well, he hasn't had a great tournament'. But if you look at his numbers, they're actually not bad at all, considering the circumstances that he's had to bat,” he told the reporters during LSG’s training session at Wankhede Stadium on May 16.
 

“He's got the respect of the group. In terms of his captaincy, it's been outstanding. (But) if he looks back, he might just be a little frustrated with the amount of runs that he scored.”

 

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Klusener refuses to blame anyone

Klusener did not blame anyone for the team's dismal performance but said that bowling wins you T20 matches.
 

“I'm a big believer that the bowling group plays a huge role in winning T20 games. But there's no blame at anyone's door,” he said.
 

“It's just a consistency as a group that has led us down this year. We haven't scored enough runs and again, we haven't taken enough wickets as well. You put all that together and that's why you end up where we are on the log."

 

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Focus on winning last game

Ahead of the clash against Hardik Pandya's MI, Klusener rues missed opportunities but backs the team to beat the home side.
 

“We're not resigned to any fact. We're just in a position where we can only make sure that we get over the line tomorrow. We've had enough opportunities over the course of the competition to make sure we don't have to rely on others,” the 52-year-old said.
 

LSG are placed seventh on the points table with six wins from 13 games. Their net run rate (NRR) is not impressive at -0.787.
 

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