KL Rahul has never quite been able to cement a place for himself in India’s limited-overs teams – 23 Tests in just over three years show that he is one of the main options in Test cricket, but he has played just 10 ODIs and 15 T20Is over the years.
A bit strange, especially seeing that he averages 35.42 and 45.45 in ODIs and T20Is respectively, and has a century in each format.
The last IPL was a big one for Rahul, after he had changed perceptions about himself with a stellar show for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2016. But a shoulder injury ruled him out of action, and that meant he couldn’t build on his reputation after having slammed 397 runs from 12 innings at a strike rate of 146.49 in the preceding year.
But for Punjab, who are in sixth place on the eight-team table with one league game left and play-off hopes fast extinguishing, someone has to partner Rahul in scoring big, at least in their final game, to harbour any hopes of progressing. Rahul has pretty much had to do it alone so far after an initial burst from Chris Gayle.
