NEW DELHI:
KL Rahul
might feel a bit frustrated, but he has not performed "bad at all" with the bat, according to assistant coach Lance Klusener. Klusener believes that the Lucknow Super Giants skipper had to curb his attacking instincts due to wickets falling around him this IPL season.
Rahul, often scrutinized for his strike rate, is the seventh-highest run-scorer this season with 465 runs at a strike rate of 136.36 in 13 matches, including three fifties.
Despite his efforts, LSG find themselves on the brink of elimination.
On Friday, the seventh-placed LSG will face the Mumbai Indians in what will be the final group match for both teams in this IPL.
"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," Klusener replied when asked if the skipper was burdened with the captaincy role combined with getting runs for his side.
"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 media during LSG's training session at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
"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," Klusener said.
The former South African cricketer mentioned that Rahul often had to rebuild the innings during the league phase, which prevented him from playing his natural, more aggressive game.
"If you look at the circumstances, he's had to rebuild a lot of the time while he's been batting, so the batting group around him haven't done him too many favours either," he said.
Klusener also refused to put the blame on any specific reason as to why the team failed to perform up to its potential.
"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."
Klusener said they still have a chance of making IPL playoffs - given they beat MI on Friday and other results go their way - and would focus on winning.
"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," he said.
Mumbai Indians' Naman Dhir, meanwhile, admitted that MI's bowlers could have done better to support
Jasprit Bumrah
, who is second in the list of most successful bowlers with 20 wickets.
"Sometimes we batted well or sometimes we bowled well. The coaches have also spoken with us that it was not our season, yet we worked hard. Yes, Jasprit bhai did not get enough support to his bowling in some matches, but we will learn from it," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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