Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul feels they bowled really well but they should have batted a lot better against Gujarat Titans at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Tuesday. The MCA pitch once again provided assistance to the spinners and it was not easy for the batters to get going.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bat first but his decision came under the scanner as GT could only manage 35 for the loss of two wickets in the PowerPlay overs. Courtesy a fine knock of 63 runs from Shubman Gill and contributions from David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, GT were able to post a fighting score of 144-4 on the board.
On the other hand, Mohammed Shami conceded only four runs in his first two overs and thus the pressure increased on LSG batters. Quinton de Kock sliced one straight to backward point against Yash Dayal whereas KL Rahul was dismissed of a short delivery by Shami. Karan Sharma was also caught at gully to leave LSG reeling at 33-3 at the end of 5.5 overs.
Subsequently, Rashid Khan and R Sai Kishore flummoxed LSG batters with their accuracy and spin. Khan had Krunal Pandya stumped whereas Ayush Badoni was Kishore’s first IPL victim. The talsiman leg-spinner also plumbed Jason Holder in front of the wickets. Furthermore, Marcus Stoinis was run out to add salt to the injury for LSG.
LSG kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they were skittled out for a paltry score of 82 runs to lose by a huge margin of 62 runs.
KL Rahul said in the post-match presentation, “It looked like a tricky wicket, that’s how it’s played here for the last 2 or 3 games that we have played here. We knew it was a low-scoring game, we knew it was a tricky and challenging pitch, we bowled really well. Restricting a team under 150 on any pitch is commendable and the bowlers did their job. We should have batted a lot better. Some poor shot selections, a run-out didn’t help, good learning for us, hopefully we can learn from a loss like this. Sometimes you need a little bit of a reminder to keep turning up every game and keep trying to do our best.”
He added, “These low totals, you want to make use of the powerplay. For me and Quinton, it was about getting the team off to a good start, not necessarily getting off to a 60-run powerplay but to get to at least 35 or 45 without losing too many wickets would have been an ideal. We knew the pitch was going to grip a bit and scoring runs after the powerplay might be a bit difficult. We took a couple of chances and that didn’t come off. We knew their spinners were going to be really difficult to score off. We have to find ways to score against good oppositions on tricky pitches. That’s something we need to learn and figure out.”
LSG will look to bounce back stronger as this was a poor batting performance from them. The KL Rahul-led team will next face Rajasthan Royals at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
