KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) faced off against the Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home - Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow - in the 54th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Sunday, May 5.
Opting to bowl first in the match, LSG were poor as Sunil Narine (81) took the bowlers to the cleaners and helped his team reach 235 for 6. For LSG, Naveen-ul-Haq picked up three wickets while Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, and Yudhvir Singh bagged one wicket each.
Chasing the total, LSG displayed a horrible batting show and were bowled out for 137 inside 16.1 overs. Only two players in Marcus Stoinis (36) and KL Rahul (25) breached the 20-run mark and LSG lost the match by 98 runs, which is the biggest-ever loss of Lucknow Super Giants in history.
Speaking after the match, KL Rahul slammed his teammates and labeled their performance as poor across all three departments. KL Rahul said:
"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. We didn't (hit our lengths on a consistent basis), just been a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field."
KL Rahul lauded KKR players Sunil Narine and Phil Salt for their aggressive batting and said that the LSG bowlers were not able to handle the pressure of dealing with KKR openers. KL Rahul elaborated:
"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. 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 lengths, but nothing out of the ordinary and it didn't seem like a pitch that was really bad. 235 was probably 20 or 30 runs above par and our batting performance was really poor. When you're chasing such a big score, you're under pressure, it's always hard."
KL Rahul revealed that they prepare well in advance ahead of the matches and assess the conditions, but a failed execution cost them the match against KKR. KL Rahul stated:
"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. 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 for the team."
KL Rahul admitted that they made some major mistakes in the match and said that they will try to move on from the loss and focus on upcoming matches.
"We've made a couple of mistakes when we've come up against batters like Sunil and anyone that's powerful. That type of intimidation puts pressure on our bowlers. 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 got to win all four games. That will give us a little bit of freedom to go out there and be a little bit more fearless, little bit brave to take on the game."
Lucknow Super Giants Suffer A Major Setback
LSG have suffered a major in Indian Premier League 2024 as they have all but lost their X-factor express pacer Mayank Yadav for the remainder of the season with only a slim hope of his availability for the playoffs in case, they make it that far.
The 21-year-old pacer took the cricket world by storm after he made his debut for LSG in IPL 2024 on March 30. In his first two matches, Mayank Yadav bowled sensational lines and lengths at a speed of 155kph on a consistent basis and registered combined figures of 6 for 41 against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He also became the first player in IPL history to win the Player-of-the-Match award in his first two matches.
After his success in the first two matches, things went downhill for the pacer as in the third game, he just bowled one over before leaving the field and he then missed the next five matches due to pain in his abdomen. Although he managed to make a comeback on April 30 against Mumbai Indians, the pacer left the field after bowling 3.1 overs as he had pain in his sides, revealed KL Rahul after the match.
Meanwhile, LSG head coach Justin Langer provided an update on Mayank Yadav during an interaction with media and he revealed that the pacer is all but ruled out of IPL. "No, we'll be praying that he can play, hopefully, in the playoffs, but I'm a realist as well. It'll be probably difficult for him to get up for the back end of the tournament," Langer said. "He's had a scan. He's got a small tear in a similar area to where his last one was. So it's very unfortunate," he added.
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