Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul admitted they were at least 20 runs short of the par score after their seven-win loss against Rajasthan Royals at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday. LSG posted 196 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Sanju Samson.
The hosts got off to a poor start, with Quinton de Kock and in-form Marcus Stoinis getting dismissed cheaply. However, KL Rahul (76 off 48) and Deepak Hooda (50 off 31) steadied the ship. The right-handed duo added 115 runs for the third-wicket alliance.
However, the home team failed to finish their innings on a high. In the last five overs, LSG could only manage 36 runs as they could not cross the 200-run mark and it proved to be the difference in the end.
Rahul added either he or Deepak Hooda should have carried on for another 20 runs and that could have made a lot of difference.
KL Rahul said after the game, “I think we left about 20 runs behind. We didn’t get an ideal start but with the partnership me and Hooda had was great. In these sorts of games, the set batter had to score close to a hundred after getting to 50-60. I think we were 150 after about 15 overs, should have capitalized on it a bit more. I think it is clear the team with more sixes ends up winning. We do try to hit our sixes but today we had to change our approach after those two early wicket. If Hooda pushed on and scored 20 more, and I got 20 more then we’d finish around 220. That would have been the difference, that’s the 20 runs we left behind.”
LSG added Amit Mishra as the impact substitute but the veteran leg-spinner was taken for 20 runs in the two overs he bowled. Rahul admitted that Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel put them under pressure. The RR skipper scored a match-winning knock of 71 runs off just 33 balls whereas Jurel got back into form, scoring 52 off 34 balls.
Rahul concluded, “There is a bit of chat before the game with the numbers and how opposition players match-up. Mishra is an experienced player and today was a day we knew he could be useful with how slow he bowls and with the larger boundaries. Once the runs kept flowing, they put pressure on our bowlers. There were 2-3 overs when Krunal bowled really well and squeezed them but then they attacked the fast bowlers. I couldn’t get a good time to get Bishnoi, wanted to keep him for the backend when Rovman and Hetmyer came out to bat because we know he can bowl well to them.”
Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Mumbai Indians at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Tuesday.
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