IPL 2020: KL Rahul's Captaincy Kept Improving As The Tournament Progressed: Aakash Chopra

Former India opener, Aakash Chopra feels that while Punjab didn’t get their best eleven right in the first half of the IPL 2020, KL Rahul showed immense growth as a captain as the tournament progressed.

King XI Punjab endured a topsy-turvy season, losing six of their first seven games, then went on to record a five-match winning streak. The KL Rahul-led side lost their last two matches and failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing at the sixth spot in the points table. Despite his team not qualifying for the playoff, Rahul won the orange cap- he amassed 670 runs in 14 matches.

KL has to take some blame: Aakash Chopra

In a recent video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra reviewed the performance of Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2020. Chopra was having mixed thoughts about the captaincy by KL Rahul. The cricketer-turned-commentator said that Rahul has to take some blame for not being able to get the eleven right for the first half of the season.

He also believes that along with Rahul the decision for the eleven is also of the management. A player like Chris Gayle was benched for half of the tournament, when Glenn Maxwell, in spite of continuous failures kept his place in the side.

In his YouTube video, Aakash Chopra said, “I was 50-50 with KL Rahul’s captaincy. Because he will have to take some of the blame for Kings XI Punjab not being able to find their ideal XI. I am sure these are the decisions of the team management and all of that but you also play a part. So that is an issue because it took some time to understand.”

The former cricketer, however, praised Rahul when it comes to bowler rotation and decisions on the field. The 43-year-old was impressed by the way the Punjab skipper used Ravi Bishnoi, an under-19 youngster, along with Murugan Ashwin. Chopra said that Rahul got the most out of Mohammad Shami in the powerplay. The commentator-cum-analyst feels that Rahul’s captaincy kept improving with the tournament.

“If you talk about the captaincy in terms of bowler management as that is a very important aspect, I was fine. He handled the bowlers well, didn’t play them consistently at the start. But when he started playing them, he used Ravi Bishnoi well, Murugan was used well also and even Shami was used well. In fact, let me just say this that KL Rahul’s captaincy kept improving as the tournament progressed,” Aakash Chopra added.

KL Rahul, who was already a mainstay in India’s white-ball team, has now been recalled in the Test squad as well on the back of his superb form in the last couple of years. Rahul is one of the few players who is in all three format squad for the Australia tour.

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