LSG’s skipper and batsman KL Rahul disclosed his plan of letting Ravi Bishnoi play late was only to break apart the Caribbean duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell. The previous night was a total disaster for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and its skipper KL Rahul because they endured their fourth massacre against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in this IPL season, while RR registered their eighth win out of nine outings. LSG was thrashed by RR by seven wickets with an over still left at the Ekhana Sports City, Lucknow.
We left about 20 runs out there- KL Rahul
KL Rahul shed light on the fact that his team was 20 runs short in the first innings even though they set a milestone of 197. He further mentioned that the set batsman could have registered a high target, hence hoisting the team total.
The LSG skipper said:
“We left about 20 runs out there. We did not get off to an ideal start but with the partnership myself and Hooda had, it is more crucial for the set batters to convert the fifties or sixties into hundreds. They bowled well in the last couple of overs. We were in a good position and should have capitalized more, and got 20-25 runs more,”
The 32-year-old skipper was aware of the fact that his team had the lowest maximum six consisting of two only. Whereas RR smashed 9 sixes in their respective innings. The Captain added further by saying,
“It has become clearer that the team that hits more sixes wins the game. The ball has been traveling and it has been hard on them (the bowlers). Not much chat about hitting sixes,”
LSG vs RR: Samson, Jurel take Rajasthan closer to Knock-outs with a 7-wicket win
KL Rahul made clear that his team practiced their power-hitting. He mentioned,” Before the game, the ball will be flying all over the place and everyone loves their range hitting. Every team does it and we are no different. We try to clear the boundaries and get used to it hitting big sixes. In our team, the big hitters are Stoinis and Pooran, and we rely on them to clear this big boundaries. The other guys, like us, try to time it and pick our spots. I felt hitting fours and picking up twos was better”.
Ravi Bishnoi was offered his 16th over where he allowed only 16 runs in his only innings of the match. This was the one plan that severely backfired because Bishnoi was the team’s main leg-spinner and was hoped to snatch wickets from the opposing team.
LSG’s skipper KL Rahul stated that: “We were hoping to use Bishnoi in the latter half. They kept putting us under pressure, and could not find a time to bring him on and by the time I brought him on, it was late. The plan was to keep Bishnoi for late and keep him for when Rovman and Hetmyer come out to bat.”
LSG never expected that the pair of Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel would record a century-partnership to get their team RR past the line to sustain their undisputed record at home.