IPL 2021: KL Rahul may need to revisit his approach

When Punjab Kings finished their innings at 195/4 against Delhi Capitals on Sunday night, it was evident that KL Rahul-led side had settled for far less than they should have amassed. That total proved woefully inadequate as Delhi cantered home with 10 balls to spare on an admittedly batting-friendly Wankhede surface, where the bowlers' struggles were compounded by the dew.

This may sound like a quibble. It might even appear unfair to point fingers at Rahul for Punjab's below-par score, but the skipper cannot escape censure despite his 51-ball 61.

For someone who used to strike at upwards of 140 runs per 100 balls faced, Rahul has been consciously subdued since the last IPL, coinciding with his elevation as the captain of the Punjab franchise. The 29-year-old is on record as saying he wants to bat through the innings, even if it means sacrificing strike-rate for the better part of his stay.

With Mayank Agarwal going at a fast clip (36-ball 69) on Sunday, Rahul may have thought it prudent to let his partner do all the running. But this plan will work only if he is there deep into the innings. If he gets out, like he did on Sunday and many times in the last season, with a handful of overs left, the team often ends up 20-30 runs short.

Punjab's first game against Rajasthan Royals, and Sunday's clash with Capitals, best illustrate the benefits and pitfalls of this strategy. Against Royals, Rahul was dismissed with four balls remaining in the innings. From the start of the 15th over till his dismissal, the right-hander's strike-rate zoomed to 206. As a result, Punjab posted 221 and managed to win by four runs in a nerve-wracking defence of that massive total. On Sunday against Capitals, Rahul fell at the start of the 16th over, having struck at fewer than 120. Consequently, their sub-200 total proved substantially less under the circumstances.

On the contrary, Delhi openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw both scored at 140 or more to give little reprieve to the Punjab bowlers at either end. Dhawan, in particular, was impressive with his relentless but risk-free aggression. He never took the foot off the accelerator, and by the time he was cleaned up for a 49-ball 92, he had killed the game as a contest.

It is interesting to see the way Dhawan and Rahul have remodelled their batting in the IPL. Where Dhawan - whose strike-rate stayed below 130 till 2017 - has gone on to enhance it significantly since 2018. Rahul crashed to 129.3 in 2020 from a high of 158.3 in 2018.

“Strike-rates are very, very overrated," Rahul had proclaimed last season, replying to a specific query asked about his diminishing pace of scoring. "For me, it's only about how I can win games for my team. And if, on a certain day, I think a strike-rate of 120 can win the game for my team, I will do that."

The thinking of the two openers fighting for a slot in the national team could not be starker.

"It was a conscious effort from my side. I knew I have to improve on that (strike-rate)," said Dhawan after Sunday's match-winning knock compiled at a strike-rate of over 187. "I started taking more risks. Not afraid of changes, always open towards it. Not scared of getting out as well."

Rahul's head coach at Punjab, Anil Kumble, when he was the coach of the Indian team, had defended Cheteshwar Pujara's low scoring rate saying that strike-rate was only for the bowlers following the Caribbean tour in 2016. But then, that was only in the context of Test cricket. Strike-rate for batsmen in T20 format is as important for batsmen as it is for the bowlers in Tests.

Rahul might have the best interests of his team in mind, but is his approach really serving the purpose? There is enough empirical evidence to suggest that he, and by extension his team, will be better off if he re-embraces his natural aggression and sheds the percentage game, which might be low-risk but is low on returns as well.