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You have to feel for KL Rahul. That man is not just the captain of the Punjab Kings, but has been their best batter since he joined the franchise in 2018, which prompted him to take charge as captain at the start of 2020 IPL. In the last four seasons, including the ongoing IPL, no batter has scored as many runs in the IPL as Rahul, who won the orange cap in the 2020 edition. But it is him who still gets hauled up for not striking the right tempo while opening for them. His steady strike rate has been a constant talking point since last IPL, whether he fails or he scores. Despite the debate Rahul has carried on doing what he does best: shut his ears to the outside noise and continue scoring. He continues playing to the situation. On Friday evening in Ahmedabad, the Kings started to ride the wave confidently with Chris Gayle in the mood to attack his former franchise, the Royals Challengers Bangalore. Gayle's strike rate in the first 10 balls in the Kings' first six matches this season was 86. His highest was 12 runs in the first 10 balls in those matches. On Friday, Gayle stuck at 280, blasting 28 runs in his first 10 balls including five fours in an over against New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson. Rahul helped Gayle build the momentum as the Kings were sailing smooth at 91 for 1 at the halfway stage; 200 was in sights. Just then Gayle got sucked into a short-pitched delivery and faltered. He cursed himself on his way out. He would be seen sitting by the side of the Kings' dugout, staring coldly in the distance, hurt that he could not impose himself the way he wanted to. In a matter of minutes, he would be joined by Nicholas Pooran, who, too, walked back shaking his head after a three-ball duck, the fourth time he had failed to open his account this IPL. Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan promised a lot but once again were overwhelmed by the situation. Once again Rahul was on his own. The Kings were 132 for 5 with three overs remaining. The last boundary had been hit in the 12th over. That was not Rahul's concern. He had seen his team nearly sink on many such situations in the past only for him to emerge as the life guard and take them to the shores. He urged his young partner Harpreet Brar, who was playing his first match of the season, to stay put. Brar obeyed his captain's orders. A partnership blossomed quickly as Brar triggered a late assault with some fluent hits against Harshal Patel, the best bowler so far this tournament, who was then toyed by Rahul as he walked across his stumps to power a 22-run final over. 
It was in the third straight match against the Royal Challengers that Rahul walked back undefeated, amassing 284 runs and having batted all 20 overs on these three occasions. Ever since he joined the Kings in 2018, no other batter in the IPL has scored a higher percentage of his team's runs (scored off the bat) than Rahul's 29.2%. On that list, Rahul is followed by stalwarts such as AB de Villiers and two-time orange cap winner David Warner. In this period Rahul has played 28.2% of the balls the Kings have faced, including in this season.
Last year Rahul faced criticism for being selfish from pundits who urged him to be selfless, keeping in mind the firepower his team possessed in the middle order in the form of Pooran and Glenn Maxwell. While Maxwell couldn't fire, Pooran was inconsistent. The Punjab side had started the season badly, but bounced back before marginally losing the playoffs race. The one constant, though, was that Rahul kept scoring. This season again Rahul remains Kings' best batter with 331 runs at an average of 66.20 and strike rate of 136.21. The remaining specialist batters meanwhile have scored 476 runs at an average of 19.83 and a strike rate of 128.64. Nonetheless, Rahul's strike rate remains a talking point. At the start of this IPL, Wasim Jaffer, the assistant coach of the Kings, said that a new and aggressive Rahul would be seen in action. Twice this season, against the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, when Rahul attempted to attack straightaway and failed, the Kings struggled to get 120 and lost both matches. Rahul might wonder to himself then: damned if I score and damned if I don't. There is a reason Rahul bats the way he does. You cannot blame for him for not trusting his other batters. Rahul understands if he does not drop the anchor, his team could very easily lose the situation. Agarwal, Gayle and Pooran would need to play according to the situation. Rahul cannot be ploughing a lone furrow for the Kings. With inputs from ESPNcricinfo's stats team
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