KL Rahul made a scary start with the bat for Lucknow Super Giants when he was dismissed off the first ball in the IPL 2022 season opener against Gujarat Titans. Rahul, one of the most successful batsmen in the Indian Premier League, played the last four seasons of the IPL for Punjab Kings before deciding to part ways.
Mohammed Shami hit a four off the first ball of the match when he dismissed KL Rahul with a brilliant delivery at the fourth stump line. The on-field umpire turned down Gujarat Titans’ vehement appeal, but Hardik Pandya opted for the DRS and TV replays showed a clear deflection.
how good it was first over of @MdShami11, Took a big wicket of KL Rahul.
live – https://t.co/4Kt4dkerZU #gtvlsg #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/IDcZ4VIpgG
– Indian Premier League (@IPL) 28 March 2022
Before the IPL auction in 2022, KL Rahul was picked up by the new team Lucknow Super Giants and was later made the captain. There was a lot of hype around the LSG opening combination of KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock, but Mohammed Shami’s early success gave Gujarat Titans a huge boost.
GT vs LSG, IPL 2022 Live Updates
In the third over of the innings, Shami also dismissed Quinton de Kock, while Varun Aaron dismissed Evan Lewis in the fourth over thanks to a brilliant catch from Shubman Gill.
KL Rahul’s duck was his first wicket in 56 innings in the IPL. He has scored 3273 runs in 95 IPL matches so far. After debuting for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015, he was released by the franchise despite an impressive performance in 2016 when he scored 397 runs.
KL Rahul showed his class in later years for Punjab by scoring 659 runs in 2018, 593 runs in 2019, 670 runs in 2020 and 626 runs in 2021. Rahul has so far scored 2 centuries in IPL.
This season of the Indian Premier League is interesting for many reasons. KL Rahul along with Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer are strong contenders for India’s captaincy when Rohit Sharma calls it a day.
KL Rahul, definitely has enough class to bounce back. The 29-year-old Bangalore batsman won the Orange Cap in 2020 and was the third highest run-scorer in 2021 behind Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis.
In January, KL Rahul was named India’s captain in the second Test against South Africa after Virat Kohli missed the game due to injury. Rahul was ruled out after the ODI series against West Indies due to a hamstring injury. He was ruled out of the T20I series against West Indies and missed the T20I and Test against Sri Lanka.