Either you are delusion and or a big a KL fanboi which you are most likely.
The trolls and criticism for KL is here and elsewhere for very long period of time and the reason being he is intent or his ultra defensive mindset of taking the game too long till the end putting the pressure on other batters hence affecting scoring.
KL Rahul is a bloke who's got all the shot in the book and on his day can look up the best in the world when on full display he scored a 14 ball half century in the IPL and had a some decent blazing knock over the years.
KL Rahul PP strike rates in the IPL
2019: 120.8 (Avg 46.4)
2020: 124.6 (Avg 152)
2021: 115.1 (Avg 64.8)
2022: 103.6 (Avg 33.8)
2023: 109.2 (Avg 95).
That Strike rate is acceptable if he is able to bat throughout the innings like he did in 2020 where he ended up batting till late and scoring big which isn't an ideal formula in the shortest version of the game where you have designated batters in the middle overs specifically meant for power hitting.
His style of batting of batting is ideal for a team where there isn't much power hitting options available in the lower order so he can look to build and play an innings throughout the 20 overs which he has done quite successful over the years especially with the Punjab franchise winning organe caps.
Whe you have power hitters like Pooran, Stoinis to come out also having the likes of Badoni and Pandya in the mix batting with a sedate strike rate and throwing up the wicket later is just a waste.
That Chinnaswamy match was another such case, Yes Siraj was bowling bonkers in power play but the bloke played 20 deliveries for just 18 runs and got out at the 11th over with RR with 14 an over. (Thanks to some hitting by Pooran
otherwise the game was all but over.)
The best T20 teams in the World (England for example) has players who go right from ball one and have players in the ranks to slog the hell out in the middle overs.
The low slow wickets like yesterday or LSG are ideally suited for his style of batting but the T20 world is going to put out that 180-200 kind of pitches 8 times out of 10 no matter what and his style of play or mindset is definitely not a way for achieving big innings consistently.
Heck that mindset even costed India atleast few icc events and exactly why Pakistanis all across the web are criticising Babar and Rizwan.
Yeah. This post sums it up. This is basically being in your own world like some of us Indians were in the 2000's where we were just looking for reasons why India were not hammering the Aussies. People actually don't get how good England are in the white ball format and head to head comparisons with their batters and ours are just done by people who do not understand our game.
Ben Stokes
Moeen Ali
Sam Curran
Liam Livingstone
We are talking here about 4 cricketers with exceptional skillsets capable of winning the game in either discipline on their own. Hell, their part timer spinner bowls both disciplines. If you look at their bowlers- Jordan, Wood, Rashid, Archer are all match winners but also capable of making 20 of 10 or at least one of them will on a given night.
When you have the luxury of Rashid coming in at 10/11, it enables you to just ignore the track and attack from the outset. If the track demands an adjustment then losing 2/3 wickets is not an issue for them.
One last thing- England have not yet had a big game on a tacky wicket. Sure, they're absolute beasts on the flat tracks but I still believe in teams like India, Australia and Pakistan if they clash on a wicket with something on it for the bowler. I saw the entire game yesterday and I believe Jos Buttler after AB's departure is the best white ball batter in the world and he too found it difficult to get going.
Lastly, on the subject of being a "fanboy" of KL? I think I deserve to be called that when it comes to Dhoni/AB but while I love KL's style, he simply doesn't have the all round temperament to be a top dog like the two I mentioned. I sympathise deeply with him like I did with Kohli in his bad run and it is fashionable in this country to be obsessively critical on anything someone does. The bloke has amassed IPL seasons which would be a matter of envy to any premiere batter. Is he the best there is? Not by far. Is he as bad as some claim? Not by far. The annoying thing is his hesitant attitude when the game is on the line specially in an IPL game where his place is as secure as secure can be. He played a shot yesterday which was on, he timed it as well but he just didn't go through with the hands in totality. Therefore instead of it landing in the stands, it went to long on. As far as the India gig is concerned? I think it was a joke for him to even be considered a test captain and I think his handling in the white ball format has been a joke.
To conclude?
I think the fans anger with him on his hesitation to push the button when he is reasonably set is justified. His temperament and the unnecessary pressure he puts on himself is what leads to him crumbling in these moments.
What angers me? He was playing perfectly fine last night and the tirade on commentary and social media during his innings was pathetic. It was not a track to go hammers and tongs from ball 1 and Rahul realised that and was playing a mature innings mixing aggression with rotation but he got a delivery he would deposit in the stands easily but that same hesitant mindset got in the way.
