KL Rahul speaks at the post-match presentations after LSG’s loss to KKR by 98 runs. (Sportzpics)
KL Rahul suggests that the inexperienced bowling attack crumbled under the pressure put on them by the blistering knocks by Sunil Narine and Phil Salt.
It was an uneventful day for the fans at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow as they witnessed their side, the Lucknow Super Giants being outplayed by the Kolkata Knight Riders in their final home game of the season to register a defeat by 98 runs in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.
The skipper KL Rahul was certainly not pleased with how the game went about and did not hold back his criticism of the 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 the Lucknow skipper at the post-match presentation.
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“We didn’t hit our lengths consistently, just a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field,” he added.
However, the skipper also recognised the fact that their fairly young bowling attack especially in the pace department was caught off guard and was seriously tested by the top-quality knocks by KKR’s opening duo
“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,” said KL Rahul.
Speaking on the conditions at Lucknow, the skipper felt that the wicket was not as bad as how the second innings played out for the home side. But giving away extra runs meant additional pressure on the batters which in turn led to a poor performance in all departments.
“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 reacting to the conditions that were on offer.
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However, it was not the lack of preparation that cost them the game but rather the execution of the plans that they had prepared beforehand which led to the home side conceding over 200 runs for the first time in this venue.
He said, “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 is for the team,” he added.
Rahul reckons that the mistakes against the explosive opening pair of Sunil Narine and Phil Salt led to the bowlers being put under pressure and then the bowlers crumbled under that pressure.
“We’ve made a couple of mistakes when we’ve come up against batters like Sunil and anyone powerful. That type of intimidation puts pressure on our bowlers,” said the opening batter.
However, Rahul is intent on going back to the dressing room and putting this loss behind them and focusing on preparing their upcoming fixtures which will all be on the road and take wins in their remaining games of the 2024 season.
“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.
