Former Australian gun fast bowler Brett Lee questioned KL Rahul’s intent after Lucknow Super Giants suffered an ignominious loss of 98 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Sunday. While chasing a huge score of 236 runs, Rahul could only manage 25 runs off 21 balls at a strike rate of 119.03.

Ergo, Lee feels the LSG captain was putting a lot of pressure on other batters as the required run rate was 11.80 from the get-go. Furthermore, LSG’s other opener Arshin Kulkarni was dismissed after scoring nine runs off seven balls.

Rahul has scored 431 runs in 11 matches of the ongoing IPL 2024 at an average of 39.18 and a strike rate of 141.31.

On the other hand, KKR was given a brisk start by their openers – Phil Salt and Sunil Narine – as the attacking duo scored 61 off just 26 balls. Salt scored a quickfire 14-ball 32 whereas Narine went on to score 81 off just 39 balls.

“I think if you look at both opening batters from both sides, it’s a complete contrast. KKR have got it right. They’re out of the blocks quickly, they’re scoring runs. And then you got KL Rahul on the other side, that’s, you know, getting a run a ball and putting a lot of pressure on the back end. You know, we saw four games and I picked KL Rahul here, the first four games he played. His strike rate was 129, then he went to 150 and now he’s come back and said, ‘well, yeah, you know the bowlers have done a great job. I think there’s a lot of pressure on him because he hasn’t scored the runs he should be,” Brett Lee said on JioCinema.

Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday.