IPL 2023: 'I don't buy it' - Ravi Shastri on KL Rahul's reasoning for his slow strike rate in RR vs LSG match

IPL 2023: Ravi Shastri has called out KL Rahul for his slow strike rate and disagreed with his reasoning for it even though Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) secured a 10-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur on Wednesday. The LSG captain scored 39 runs off 32 balls in the match.

Shastri has reckoned that Rahul should have gone for the kill after getting two lifelines - both in the powerplay. The 31-year-old was first dropped at an individual score of six. On the second occasion, he was batting on 12. Rahul pointed out the slow nature of the pitch as the reason later.

"At the 10-over mark, the message we sent out was that maybe 165 is a good total, so, let us try to get to 160. Did not have to set ourselves very high. They are a quality team, they have good bowlers.

"We fell 10 runs short maybe but we made it up with the ball in the end. There was no dew and that was fair on both teams.We came in yesterday and we were thinking 180 is a par score. Knowing the batters they have, the mindset was to get 15 runs extra.

"When Boult bowled the first over, me and Kyle had a chat and we said that the ball was not coming on. We assessed it quite well but if there were a couple more partnerships in the middle, we could have gotten more," Rahul said after the match.

I don't buy it: Shastri

Former India head coach Shastri has completely shunned Rahul's comment, saying that the right-hander should have batted deep after getting two chances and also upped his strike rate.

"Absolutely (needs to get the strike up). All that talk about 160, I don't buy it. When you have two chances, if you convert that 39 to 60 or 70, 160 becomes 175. You need someone in the top 3 to carry on and play that long innings," Ravi Shastri told Star Sports.

"If the Rajasthan Royals team had done that. They would have won this game. Plenty to learn from this game for both sides on how to approach and taking chances at the right time. It's still early days in the tournament. Rajasthan is No. 1 and Lucknow is No. 2 and they will learn a lot from this," he added.

Rahul has scored 194 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 114.79.