IPL 2023: “Brainless From KL Rahul”- Venkatesh Prasad Slams LSG Captain After Their 7-Run Loss To GT

Venkatesh Prasad was upset by Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) captain KL Rahul after their 7-run loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the ongoing IPL 2023 on April 22, 2023, Saturday in the match which was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

Chasing 136 runs to win, KL Rahul scored his 50 in 38 balls and got help from Kyle Mayers (24) and Krunal Pandya (23). However, Hardik Pandya utilized his bowlers well and Noor Ahmad picked two crucial wickets in the middle overs.

LSG needed 30 runs in 34 balls and still had KL Rahul at the crease. It all came down to 17 runs in the last 12 balls and Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma produced a brilliant show of fast bowling as LSG could only manage to score 9 runs to finish on 128/7 and lost the match by 7 runs.

Rahul fell in the last over for 68 in 61 balls with 8 fours scoring just 18 in the next 28 deliveries after reaching his fifty.

This led to Venkatesh Prasad being extremely critical of KL Rahul and calling his performance brainless.

“Bottling a run chase when 30 needed of 35 balls with 9 wickets in hand requires some baffling batting. Happened with Punjab in 2020 on few occasions losing games they should have won easily. As brilliant as Guj were with ball & Hardik smart with his captaincy, brainless from Lko,” he tweeted.

Bottling a run chase when 30 needed of 35 balls with 9 wickets in hand requires some baffling batting. Happened with Punjab in 2020 on few ocassions losing games they should have won easily. As brilliant as Guj were with ball & Hardik smart with his captaincy, brainless from Lko

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) April 22, 2023

I Don’t Know How It Happened, But It Has Happened: KL Rahul Speechless After Loss

After losing the match, KL Rahul was in disbelief and looked down as he talked to the commentators and discussed what just happened. He said that while he didn’t try to take the game so much deep, the GT bowlers were excellent to put pressure on the LSG batting.

He said: “I don’t know how it happened, but it has happened. I can’t put a finger on where it went wrong, but we lost 2 points today, this is cricket. I thought we were brilliant with the ball, 135 was 10 runs under par, the bowling was exceptional, we started well with the bat, but these things happen, we’ll have to take it on the chin. But still a long way to go, 8 points off 7 games, we were on the wrong side of the result today.

We were well ahead in the game and I wasn’t really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though.”

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