"He is technically very sound and has game-awareness"- Former World Cup-winning pacer praised KL Rahul

The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League saw two new franchises make their debut in the IPL; Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. However, both teams had a good performance in their maiden season. Gujarat Titans made history by lifting the title in their maiden season. 

On the other hand, LSG ended the season in fourth place after a loss against RCB in Qualifier 1. KL Rahul led his team brilliantly and was also the standout performer in the whole competition. He ended the season as the second highest run-scorer with 616 runs in 15 matches.

The former and World Cup-winning pacer, RP Singh, has lauded Rahul for his performance in the season. He has praised him for anchoring the innings and changing gears as per the situation demanded. On the other hand, he has also slammed his LSG teammate Manish Pandey for giving away his wicket after getting the start.

The LSG skipper scored 616 runs at a good average of 51.33 with two centuries and four half-centuries in the tournament. He has been the most consistent batter in the IPL and has now become the only Indian player to cross the 600-run mark in a season four times.

However, he faced a backlash for his slow innings in the Qualifier against RCB and for his defensive intent. But RP Singh backed him up and praised him for his effort. Manish Pandey, on the other hand, struggled this season. That was the reason that he was benched after a few games. Pandey played six games and scored just 88 runs.

In an interaction with Cricbuzz, the former pacer said that Rahul is technically very sound and he has good game awareness and knows which bowler he can target. He added, "If he gets out for a run-a-ball 25, we’d say that he played like Manish Pandey does. But he ticks all the boxes because he protects his wicket and knows when to accelerate."

Former wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel also lauded the LSG skipper. He said that Rahul is the only player who can get to a century in 20 overs irrespective of the slow start. Parthiv added that if he can score 100 off 60 balls, that means he knows how to pace his innings.