- May 21, 2025
You know those team assignments where one member does everything? Yup, that’s how KL Rahul must be feeling right about now. Before you judge and/or check the scorecard and see 112 off 65 for him, do NOT forget about how he’s been putting the majority of Delhi’s batting on his shoulders. Sure, they scored 199/3 against a decent MI, but man, the dependency on Rahul is getting tiresome. If DC wants to change their fate this IPL season, they require more than one iron knight.
KL Rahul: The One-Man Show That’s Wearing Thin
Rahul’s love affair with Wankhede and his record against MI bowlers is well known. He has the records, the style, and the fitness to blitz any bowler, anywhere in the world, and that is exactly what he is doing. Rahul has already scored over 550 runs this season, so of course, he is a candidate for the Orange Cap (and that is whilst he missed the first match).
Here’s the problem: Even as Rahul is scoring at one end, the rest of the batting unit seems to be stuck in treacle. You have a problem when in a game with three batters (Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, and Axar Patel combined contributed just 60 runs off 45 balls). If your engine room is in first gear whilst the top is in turbo mode, you cannot expect to win T20 games.
The Support Cast Needs to Play Their Part
Let us address the elephant in the room – the middle order of the Delhi Capitals. It has been weak, inconsistent, and overly reliant on Rahul to hold the innings together. And while there is something to be said about having an anchor to the ship, it cannot be the entire ship.
The good thing is that now KL Rahul is opening the batting on a practically permanent basis, where he should’ve been opening the batting all along, and the rest of the line-up should feel freed up to be aggressive. Instead of being safe and cautious, they can now be themselves and just bat, but even that freedom is not converting into good partnerships.
T20 cricket revolves around the critical phases of the game; you have the powerplays, the middle overs, and the death. If the complementaries can’t keep the tempo in the middle overs while Rahul builds at one end, DC will continue to lag 15-20 runs short of par; it will make no difference how great Rahul is looking.
MI’s Blueprint to Tame the Beast—And Why It Might Work Again
Karan Sharma, who took out Rahul in the reverse fixture, and in the last match, Siraj and Arshad also had success bowling tight, straighter lines to him in the powerplay. They denied him his favourite areas, in particular, that deadly pick-up shot over square leg, and packed the onside with protection.
The early strategy worked, at least to slow him down. However, if this is Delhi’s method of allowing Rahul to absorb balls while other badgers struggle to score, MI and the others will continue to exploit this. That is a dangerous formula. When one man becomes the game plan, you are predictable, and in the IPL, predictability is punished.
The bigger question is – who is willing to step up and take off some of the weight from his shoulders? Let us know – who do you want to take responsibility for in the DC batting order?
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