Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) succumbed to a crushing 98-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Sunday (May 5).
Asked to bat first, KKR piled up a mammoth 235/6 on the board. Sunil Narine was the top scorer with 81 off 39 balls while Philip Salt (32), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (32), Ramandeep Singh (25*) made vital contributions with the bat.
In reply, LSG’s innings folded for a paltry 137 in 16.1 overs. It was a listless batting display as no one managed to touch the 40-run mark. Marcus Stoinis was the top scorer with 21-ball 36.
After the game, LSG skipper KL Rahul did not hold back his criticism of the poor performance his side had put in.
“It was a lot of runs to be scored in the second innings. When you are chasing a big total, you are trying to go too hard and you end up losing wickets. Just a poor performance overall,” said Rahul at the post-match presentation.
“We didn’t hit our lengths consistently, just a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field,” he added.
Rahul acknowledged that their fairly young bowling attack was caught off guard by the brutal assault from KKR openers.
“Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, in the powerplay, we’ve seen how they bat and they do put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Our young bowlers couldn’t handle that kind of pressure and he hit some really good shots. That’s how IPL is, you come up against really good players and that’s when your character is tested. We weren’t up to the mark,” Rahul stated.
Commenting on the conditions in Lucknow, the skipper felt that the wicket was not as bad as how the second innings played out for the home side.
“The wicket was really good, felt like a pretty true wicket, there was a bit of bounce if you bowled hard lengths and back of a length, but nothing out of the ordinary and it didn’t seem like a really bad pitch. 235 was probably 20 or 30 runs above par and our batting performance was really poor,” said the LSG captain.
However, it was not the lack of preparation that cost them the game but rather the execution of the plans.
“We prepare well in advance and talk about the opposition batters, we know our conditions here and we do spend a little bit of time talking to the bowlers and talking to the batters trying to see what kind of plans we need to come up with,” Rahul said.
“Once we come here, it’s about execution and we went wrong in that part. Bowlers tried their best but the young group really … the sooner you learn, the better it is for the team,” he further remarked.
With the playoffs spot still up for grabs, KL Rahul wants his troops to move on from this humiliating loss and focus on the upcoming fixtures.
“That’ll be the chat once we get back to the dressing room – move on from this game, see where we went wrong and try and get better. This is our last home game for us, so we are on the road for the next three games. It’s pretty clear for us, if you want to get to the top four, you have to win all the games. That will give us a little bit of freedom to go out there and be a little bit more fearless, a little bit brave to take on the game,” he concluded.
