Silly defeats raise concern over Rahul’s captaincy

“It’s a tough one to swallow,” said Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul after the last ball defeat to Rajasthan Royals the other night. Yes, it will be tough to digest because Punjab needed 10 off 15 balls. RR pulled a victory out of nowhere.

Generally, we see teams fighting each other to win the game. Strangely, last night’s match looked like a battle for defeat. Both RR and Punjab made so many blunders that people wondered whether they are playing to win or lose. In the end, it was RR who stanched the victory from the jaws of defeat.

This is not the first time Punjab lost an easy match. That is their case for the last two editions. Ever since Rahul took over the captaincy responsibilities, he is phenomenal on the batting front but is failing as a captain. Frequent team changes and over-dependence on the opening pair is affecting Punjab a lot.

In an analysis, former cricketer Virender Sehwag said that even babies don’t change diapers as frequently as Punjab changes its playing XI. People wondered why Gayle was left out last night. He was in a good form during the CPL and he is a legendary T20 batsman. One can’t just leave him out easily. Rahul and Mayank proved to be one of the best opening pairs in the history of IPL. They made a century partnership last night and still, Punjab managed to lose the game. What’s more surprising is that Punjab lost all the games where the duo made a partnership of more than 100 runs.

As a batsman, Rahul is doing great in the IPL for the last few seasons. He is currently the joint orange cap holder with Shikhar Dhawan. He was the orange cap winner of the 2020 season. He remained the second-highest run-scorer and the third-highest run-scorer in the 2019 and 2018 seasons respectively. Rahul is also the fastest Indian to reach 3000 runs in IPL. As a batsman, there is nothing to complain about him.

But as a captain, he is not up to the mark. Punjab’s disastrous falls in tight games prove the same. Rahul is being considered one of the best captain choices for Team India in the future. But going by his IPL record, people are raising doubts about his skills as a skipper.