Image Source: Agencies

Lucknow Super Monsters (LSG) captain KL Rahul proceeded with his horrible run with the bat in the Indian Chief Association (IPL), adding more fuel to the fire of hypotheses about his place in India's T20I set-up in front of the ICC T20 World Cup beginning in West Indies/USA from June 1 onwards.

In the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Lucknow's Ekana Arena, KL played a battling, moderate T20 thump, scoring only 33 runs in 31 balls, with three limits. His runs came at a disappointing strike pace of 106.45.

Having played four IPL matches up until this point, KL has scored just 126 runs at a normal of 31.50, with a disappointing strike pace of 128.57. He has scored 50 years, a thump of 58 out of 44 balls against RR, however has in any case enrolled scores of 15 out of nine balls, 20 of every 14 balls and 33.

The wicketkeeper-hitter has been frustrating with the bat in the IPL since the 2023 release, a season which was stopped by a physical issue. In the 2023 IPL, KL scored 274 runs in nine matches at a normal of 34.25 and a shoddy strike pace of 113.22, with two half-hundreds of years and best score of 74.

Generally since IPL 2023, KL has highlighted in 13 counterparts for LSG, scoring 400 runs at a normal of 33.33, with a strike pace of a little more than 117. He has scored three fifties, with the best score of 74. However different numbers actually appear all good, his strike rate looks truly standard for an organization that expects openers to hit enormous from ball one.

Of 57 players who have confronted atleast 150 balls across the last two IPLs, KL is the main hitter with a strike pace of under 120.

This raises worry over KL's expectation while batting, as Ishan Kishan (170.37 strike rate), Sanju Samson (150.84 strike rate), Jitesh Sharma (126.08 strike rate) and Rishabh Gasp (154.54) have shown better goal while batting in this IPL, making their T20 World Cup prospects areas of strength for extremely.

However the player has gotten back in the game in Tests and ODIs, his last T20I right up 'til now stays against Britain, the elimination round conflict of T20 WC 2022 in Australia, where India lost by 10 wickets. The competition was a disheartening one for KL, scoring 120 runs in six matches at a normal of 21.33 and a strike pace of only 120.75, with two fifties.

From that point forward, the selectors have gone with a lot more youthful, going after players like Kishan, Jitesh and Samson in short configuration.