KL Rahul (c) of Lucknow Super Giants during match 15 of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants held at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on the 2nd April 2024. (Sportzpics)
RCB tried to hit the yorker lengths but missed landing a few which proved expensive for the side from Bengaluru. LSG skipper Rahul, who was shrewd enough to observe the same revealed that he spoke to his side about using the wicket instead of aiming for the yorkers.
Lucknow Super Giants registered a 28-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the 2024 season of the IPL to climb to fourth in the table.
Quinton de Kock notched up a half-century, while Nicholas Pooran’s quickfire unbeaten 40 helped LSG post a total of 181/5 before they bundled out RCB for 153 runs as Mayank Yadav came up with a three-fer.
LSG skipper KL Rahul shared his thoughts on the win after the conclusion of the game as he praised the all-round performance from his side.
“Overall it was a really good performance,” Rahul began.
Rahul put up a 53-run opening stand alongside de Kock as LSG were put to bat first by RCB.
“The wicket was a bit tricky and there was some help for the seamers. Quinton got us off to a good start. We were 10-15 runs ahead of what we needed to be,” he explained.
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RCB tried to hit the yorker lengths but missed landing a few as de Kock took advantage of the full toss deliveries coming his way to score 81 runs off just 56 deliveries.
Rahul said that he spoke to his side about using the wicket instead of aiming for the yorkers.
“The talk was about using the wicket and not the yorkers. It’s important to stay calm,” he elucidated.
LSG’s young pacer Yadav, who produced yet another sterling performance with his 3-14 in 4 overs, was presented with the Player of the Match award for the second game in a row and Rahul lauded the efforts of the 21-year-old.
“So happy to see Mayank bowl the way he’s been bowling. He’s waited patiently for a year. He is working really hard and he is really professional. He has a great temperament,” the skipper said.
LSG have won a majority of the games they have batted first, which goes against the grain in the overall scheme of T20, where the sides chasing tend to come up trumps.
“Bowling first has been the trend in T20 cricket. If I have a look at our record, it speaks differently,” Rahul said.
“The good thing I am doing is losing the toss,” he joked.
“If we get bowled out, if the opposition blasts out, there’s something to go back and look at,” he added.
LSG opened the 2024 campaign with a loss against Rajasthan Royals, but have comeback strong with two wins on the bounce since.
“It’s okay to lose sometimes, the first game was one such game, and we have bounced back really well. This is how we play our cricket,” Rahul added.
Rahul added that opting for spin on the day paid dividends, but suggested that his side will delve deeper to find ways to pick up wickets in the powerplay overs.
“Powerplay bowling has always been a question mark, trying to fix that. We’ve gone spin this game, a very obvious match-up against RCB which worked. We’ll try to find ways to get wickets in the powerplay,” the LSG captain concluded.
