NEWS
Follow UsWith two consecutive wins over Chennai Super Kings, the KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants have flocked into the top four, having won five of their eight games this season. This win against CSK would have given them more confidence, particularly because of the way they collectively contributed so as to add to Marcus Stoinis’ freak innings.
But this has been a pattern in the ongoing IPL. No scores seemed safe. No century is match-defining. So much so that even when CSK posted 210, instead of hagging around, they had to put in their best effort, yet ended up on the wrong side of the result.
KL Rahul, who had once divided opinion by saying strike rate doesn’t matter in T20s, has made a complete U-turn, stating the format has changed a lot lately, and now, a completely different approach is needed.
“I have also realised that T20 cricket has changed in the last couple of years. 170-180 does not always cut it. You have to go harder in the powerplay. The Impact player gives you depth and that gives you more freedom. I have not played T20 cricket in a long time,” Rahul said in the post-match presentation.
LSG promoted Stonis to No.3 in the face of a rising asking rate and the Aussie vindicated the hope by smashing all CSK bowlers all around the park. Rahul stated that they wanted to take more risks upfront in order to have that cushion. “We wanted to be a lot more braver as a team. We had three games, a couple at home and some away where we couldn't go past 170. We needed one power hitter in the top three. That was the thought process,” the LSG skipper added.
On the other hand, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored his second IPL century, realised that dew played a massive role in conditions altering in the next innings, but he credited Stoinis for his bravado.
“Tough pill to swallow but LSG played a good game at the end. We had the game in hand around the 13th over, but hats off to Stoinis. There was a huge part that the dew played. It took the spinners away from the game,” Gaikwad said at the end of the game.
“We could have taken the game deeper. But it is a part of the game, you can't control the uncontrollable. Batting first we couldn't have got more than that. I never thought it was enough. It was just about enough with the amount of dew we were having. Credit to them for how they batted,” the CSK skipper added.
