‘Arey baap re, yeh toh dhoti khol raha hai’ – Fans react as Kevin Pietersen slams KL Rahul for his slow batting in powerplays

In the 26th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 10 runs to register their fourth victory of the season. Riding on Marcus Stoinis’s all-round performance, LSG beat RR in their backyard. Stoinis scored 21 runs with the bat while clinching two important wickets to help LSG win the game. The pitch in Jaipur was slowish and it helped LSG skipper KL Rahul to defend the lowest target of the season.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul who scored 39 runs off 32 balls while batting first was criticised by former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen slammed Rahul for his slow batting in powerplays and called ‘most boring thing to watch.’ Notably, in the game, Rahul played a maiden over of Trent Boult during the powerplay. It might be due to the uneven bounce of the pitch but Pietersen didn’t hesitate to point it out.

While commentary Pietersen said, “Watching KL Rahul bat in the powerplays is the most boring thing I have ever been through.” Notably, the ongoing season of IPL has not been up to the mark for KL Rahul. The 31-year-old batter has scored 194 runs in six innings at an average of 32.33. He has hammered a half-century and is batting with a strike rate of 114.79 which is the lowest in the last three years.

KL Rahul has defended his cautious approach

Notably, after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in M Chinnaswamy stadium KL Rahul was asked about his slow approach while chasing 213 runs. Rahul defended his cautious approach and said that he batted according to the situation. Rahul said, “I want to score more runs, and when I think I score more runs, the strike rate goes up. We have played a couple of games on tough wickets in Lucknow.”

“Today we lost three wickets, so I looked at the situation and felt like I did the right thing. If I could have carried on and stayed there till the end and stayed with Nicky, we could’ve won the game a lot easier. Once I get some good knocks under my belt, I’ll start feeling good, and that will go up.” Meanwhile, after beating table toppers LSG will now head to Lucknow to face defending champions Gujarat Titans at the iconic Ekkana Stadium.

Here is how fans react to Kevin Pietersen’s comment on KL Rahul: