Cheteshwar Pujara urges KL Rahul to be more aggressive in middle overs in IPL 2025

Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara has advised KL Rahul to be more aggressive while batting in the middle overs in the ongoing IPL 2025. Rahul scored 38 runs off 32 balls against the Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.

Pujara, however, believes that the flamboyant batter could have gone a bit hard in the middle phase of the innings after getting settled at the crease. Rahul has been in good form in the ongoing season, scoring 238 runs in five matches at an average of 59.50 and a strike rate of 154.54.

Asked to bat first, Delhi Capitals posted 188 runs on the board and then won the game in the Super Over after Mitchell Starc’s yorker show.

“KL, being the senior player, I think he wanted to play 15-20 balls, and then go out. But, at the same time, he should have attacked a bit more, because he was set, he had enough chance to look at the pitch, he knew the conditions by then. So, he was trying, but he was just trying to muscle it out of the ground,” Pujara said on ESPN Cricinfo.

“His batting order has changed a bit, too. So, I mean he is just trying to figure out. He normally does go hard in the powerplay, but after that, that is the period where he needs to be a little more aggressive. He needs to find the right shots. It looked like he was a bit cautious, he wanted to save his wicket rather than play his natural game,” Pujara added.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul was backed by the team’s think tank in the Super Over and he scored seven runs off three balls against Sandeep Sharma while chasing 12 runs.

Delhi Capitals will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Saturday.