Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul admitted that they were 10 runs short of a par-score but made up with the ball after their 10-run win against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Wednesday.
LSG managed a below-par score of 154 runs after Sanju Samson put them into bat. In fact, Rahul revealed that he and his opening partner – Kyle Mayers – realized the pitch was not a 180 kind of a track and thus they adopted a sedate approach in the Powerplay, chugging to 37-0, the slowest score without losing a wicket in first six overs in IPL 2023.
However, after the Powerplay, Mayers, and Rahul changed gears and added 82 runs for the opening alliance. Marcus Stoinis scored 16-ball 21 whereas Nicholas Pooran scored 29 runs from 20 balls to add the finishing touches.
On the other hand, RR got off to a good start as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler added 87 runs but they took 11.3 overs to score these runs. RR veered off the track as they lost the next four wickets for 32 runs in five overs and could not keep up with the required run rate.
Barring Yudhvir Singh Charak, all the LSG bowlers were economical as they were right on the money. Avesh Khan scalped three wickets whereas Marcus Stoinis took two wickets to put his team in front and both of them collectively conceded 53 runs in the eight overs they bowled.
KL Rahul said in the post-match presentation, “I got hit by one of the throws from my teammates, so clearly doing something wrong as captain. In the 10 over mark, the message me and Kyle sent out was 160 would be a good total on this track, they have some good bowlers as well who exploited the conditions. We fell 10 short but made up with the ball. And there was no dew so made it fair for both teams.”
He continued, “We came in here yesterday and saw 180 would be a par score, but the first over from Boult, me and Kyle had a chat and realized this isn’t a 180 wicket. The ball was keeping a bit low, so we gave ourselves time in the powerplay. Maybe if we played a bit better, we might have got 170 as well. I think that run-out from the impact player (Mishra), and two wickets falling back to back gives the opposition (his own team) a chance. We know with Rajasthan their strength is their top four, so we needed to have our plans in place to get them out.”
Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday.
