Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar made a brutal remark about KL Rahul after his less than one-run innings for Delhi Capitals against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, May 5. DC’s eight-wicket loss to CSK marked their fourth home defeat in five matches.
With the Delhi pitch being slow and the batsmen finding it difficult to score freely unlike their previous game against the Punjab Kings, DC could only post 156 runs to chase down CSK in 20 overs.
“It’s almost like the odd and even games where sometimes he goes right after bowling which is the KL Rahul you want,” Manjrekar said via his Instagram link. “But then he feels he’s earned the right and he becomes responsible for the rest of the batting that comes in and then he plays that innings. Once you get out after getting 12 off 12, you’ve signed the death warrant for your team. After that lackluster first six overs, DC was out for the game.”
Rahul, who was in ‘boom or bust’ form, struggled to get going and eventually succumbed to a sharp captaincy move by Ruturaj Gaikwad, who held on with Akeal Hosein against the right-hander. Rahul finished with 12 off 13 balls.
“KL Rahul, after playing a great innings in the previous match, got 12 off 12 balls in the first six overs. That’s two overs at a 100. When you have openers for 200, you can’t have an opener who scores 12 off 12 hoping to explode later,” he added.
Despite a poor outing against CSK, the Karnataka batter has been DC’s best player this seasonthereby significantly improving his strike rate in the Indian Premier League. Rahul amassed 445 runs in 10 matches at an average of 49.44 and a strike rate of 180.89.
DC’s playoff hopes remain slim, with just eight points from ten games. They will next host Kolkata Knight Riders on May 8 before traveling to Dharamshala on May 11 to take on PBKS.
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Published on:
06 May 2026 16:21 IST
