The 3rd match of the Indian T20 League 2023 is being played between Lucknow and Delhi at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Meanwhile, this is the first time the Lucknow-based franchise got to play at their home ground since joining the Indian T20 League last year. They had a very good last season as they made it to the playoffs.
However, their captain, KL Rahul, who is suffering from his poor form in international cricket, continued to disappoint the fans as he got out early while batting first. Delhi's fast bowler Chetan Sakariya bowled a slow delivery in the 4th over of the 1st innings. Rahul whipped the ball in the air and didn't get hold of it and it went straight to Axar Patel, who successfully took the catch at square leg. This is the third time when Sakariya got rid of Rahul.
Rahul's brilliant record in Indian T20 League
Rahul is struggling to score runs for quite a while now. His recent performance in international cricket has brought him to the attention of his detractors and supporters. He is one of the top contenders to win the orange cap in the tournament, but he'd like to forget this bad start.
Despite his failure in the first match of the tournament, Rahul still has a tremendous Indian T20 League record as in 15 cash-rich league games last season, the right-hander scored 616 runs at an average of 51.33, including two hundred and four half-centuries. He has scored 3889 runs in just 109 games at a 48.01 average, with four tons and 31 half-centuries in his overall career in the richest league in the world.
Here's how fans reacted:
time kharab chal rha hai
— SAHEZ (@sahez_22) April 1, 2023
Let's laugh at fraud klol 🤣
— YoKu (@36Yoku) April 1, 2023
Ha bahi.... kya hua tumhare gun player ko 🤣🤣🤣
— Rohan gupta (@rohangupta1997) April 1, 2023
Bhai ab kya ipl me bhi h@geg@😂😂
— Virat.Kohli (@VirattKohli007) April 1, 2023
Kaptaan chale seena taan dagout ki aur
— Cricket trolls (@Divyans28919272) April 1, 2023
kl Rahul summary.. 😭 pic.twitter.com/aMWRJFTF5B
— Abhishek (@NotYourPapaaa) April 1, 2023
Koi batao yaha santri cap milta hai
— मंद बुद्धि (@IamRo94) April 1, 2023
Venkatesh ji ka tweet nhi aya ab tak?
— dvijbutkar (@dvijbutkar) April 1, 2023
Here are the playing XI:
Delhi's playing XI: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Sarfaraz Khan (wk), Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, and Mukesh Kumar.
Lucknow's playing XI: KL Rahul (c), Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Ayush Badoni, Mark Wood, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, and Avesh Khan