Heading into the IPL 2024 season, KL Rahul, the Lucknow Super Giants captain, was one of the contenders for the position of wicket-keeper batsman in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
However, after the first couple of weeks of the IPL, it seems all but certain that KL Rahul won’t be picked in India’s T20 World Cup squad for the tournament in the USA and West Indies in June, following the IPL.
This is down to two reasons. First, Rahul’s decision to open the batting for LSG very much ruled him out of contention for India’s first-choice XI as India are apparently looking for a wicket-keeper batsman who could bat in the middle and finish off T20 games.
India have already their top order filled with Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, and they are trying to squeeze in Rinku Singh as well. For the keeper’s position Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson are frontrunners right now with Dinesh Karthik slowly making his case with a couple of brilliant knocks for RCB.
KL Rahul has batted at a poor strike rate in IPL 2024 so far
The second reason for Rahul pushing himself out of the competition for a spot in the T20 World Cup squad is his dismal strike rate and conservative approach.
India captain Rohit Sharma has been walking the talk about aggressive and intentful batting; Virat Kohli has upped his strike rate this season and has been more aggressive than in the previous years; Jaiswal already is a powerplay monster, and Suryakumar Yadav is arguably the best T20 batsman in the world.
However, KL Rahul has been trudging along steadily and continues to play his conservative, risk-averse brand of cricket for the first half of his innings. This puts pressure not only himself to then be able to capitalize on his start, but also on his batting partners.
In four innings so far in IPL 2024, KL Rahul has scored 126 runs at a strike rate of 128 – under-par strike rate for modern T20 standards; in fact, one could call it a poor strike rate considering the high-scoring matches that have taken place in the IPL so far.
With opening the batting and batting with such a dismal strike rate, Rahul has removed himself from T20 World Cup squad contention.
Also Read: IPL 2024: Should Faf Du Plessis Drop Himself From RCB’s Playing XI To Include Will Jacks?
