"KL Rahul shouldn't be anywhere near the India T20 squad" - Twitter trolls LSG skipper for snail-paced 31-ball 33 against GT in IPL 2024

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul produced another painstakingly slow innings of 33 from 31 deliveries against Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 7.

Often accused of taking plenty of time to accumulate his runs without converting, Rahul provided fodder for his critics by doing just that in his vigil. LSG lost a couple of early wickets and were 18/2 in the third over, forcing Rahul to go into defensive mode.

However, with the partnership with Marcus Stoinis well-set at 73 off 61 deliveries, the time was ideal for the duo to accelerate. Yet, Rahul threw his wicket away at the most inopportune time to finish with a strike rate of under 110.

The stylish right-hander hasn't hit top gear yet in this IPL, scoring only 126 runs in four innings at an average of 31.50 and a strike rate of under 129.

Fans on Twitter slammed Rahul for yet another scratchy knock with no intent with the following reactions:

Other fans similarly blasted Rahul for his snail-paced innings and hoped he wouldn't come close to a place in the T20 World Cup squad.

"KL Rahul shouldn’t be anywhere near the India T20 squad," tweeted a fan.

"kl rahul following vk path as he is his fav idol," another fan tweeted.

"I can’t believe KL Rahul is still fancied for T20 cricket despite playing maiden overs in the last T20 World Cup & scoring barely at 105-110 SR. On the other hand, its shocking that not a single franchise felt the need to pick someone like Sarfaraz Khan who plays attacking cricket," said a fan.

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LSG set GT a competitive target of 164

Despite the early wickets of Quinton de Kock and Devdutt Padikkal, LSG recovered to post a decent total of 163/5 in 20 overs.

Marcus Stoinis top-scored for them with a well-compiled 58 off 43, including four boundaries and two maximums. LSG also received valuable cameos from Aayush Badoni (20 off 11) and Nicholas Pooran (32* off 22).

Meanwhile, the GT bowlers were largely disciplined in their display, with Umesh Yadav and Darshan Nalkande picking up two wickets each.

LSG have made a solid start to their IPL 2024 campaign, winning two of their first three games. On the other hand, GT has been inconsistent with two wins in four matches.

At the moment, GT have started their reply without any setbacks at 21/0 in three overs.