IPL 2022: KL Rahul can play finisher's role for LSG: Gavaskar

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Bengaluru, April 4: Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar believes Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul has all the shots in the book to play the finisher's role for his franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

After losing to fellow debutants Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2022 opener, LSG rallied back quickly to stun champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their next match.

That win was fashioned by the likes of skipper Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis and new sensation Ayush Badoni.

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"KL Rahul is such an integral part of any team. He opens the batting and gets to bat 20 overs and sets the pace for his team. I believe he has the ability to be the finisher as well," Gavaskar told Cricket Live on Star Sports, ahead of LSG's third IPL 2022 encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

In Rahul and De Kock, LSG boast of formidable opening pair, and they proved their worth against CSK by scoring 40 and 61 in a 99-run first-wicket stand.

West Indian Lewis smashed unbeaten 55 off 23 balls in a steep chase of 211 against CSK while, in Deepak Hooda, LSG possess a dependable middle-order batter.

Young Badoni, who has taken IPL 2022 by storm with his six hitting prowess, is a treat to watch and would be looking to carry on his fine form.

Badoni struck an 41-ball 54 in his IPL debut against GT and followed it up with yet another entertaining nine-ball unbeaten 19-run knock against CSK.

But the form of Manish Pandey will be a cause of concern for LSG, who also boasts of hard-hitting all-rounders like Krunal Pandya and Jason Holder among others.

Gavaskar, the first cricketer in Test history to score 10,000 runs opined that LSG are destined for greater things with Rahul at the helm.

"He's not just somebody who can begin the innings and get the team off to a good start. He has all the shots in the book to finish it off as well.

On Monday (April 4) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, in Match 12 of IPL 2022, LSG will once again relying heavily on their batting prowess to get past SRH and Gavaskar feels Rahul should occupy the crease for more time.

"So if he gets going till the 15th-16th over, then LSG can post 200-plus on the board," the little master added.

On the bowling front, Avesh Khan, Sri Lankan Dushmantha Chameera, Andrew Tye and Ravi Bishnoi were the main wicket-takers for LSG in the two matches so far, but they need to be more disciplined to contain the run flow against SRH who have some solid batters including Williamson, Aidan Markram and Nicholas Pooran.

In their only match so far, South African Markran played an unbeaten 57-run knock off 41 balls, while Washington Sundar hit a blazing 14-ball 40, albeit in a losing cause.

SRH would be looking for a complete, all-round performance to register their first win of IPL 2022 while LSG will be hoping to keep the winning momentum on.

The match starts at 7.30pm IST.