NEWS
Follow UsAfter being thrashed by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their last game, where Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head chased down 166 runs in just 9.4 overs, serious questions were being raised about the batting of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). They had scored only 165 in their 20 overs just an hour ago, almost as if they were playing on a different surface from SRH.
Such a shell-shocking defeat seemed to have led LSG’s owner, Sanjeev Goenka, to come down near the dugout after the game and have a heated and animated discussion with skipper KL Rahul, who looked sedate but clearly awkward about this interaction on the boundary side right after terribly losing a game.
Reactions overflowed on social media platforms, and various media outlets speculated about whether it would lead to a captaincy change in the LSG setup. However, when LSG’s assistant coach Lance Klusener talked ahead of LSG’s game against Delhi Capitals on May 14 (Tuesday) as he categorically rubbished any suggestion of a potential leadership change.
“No, certainly no discussions around that [captaincy change],” Klusener said. He also called the heated interaction between Goenka and Rahul as a “storm in a teacup.”
“I don't see any problem with a robust discussion between two cricket lovers. I don't see any problem with that. For us, I guess, it's just a storm in a teacup. We love a robust discussion, I think that's how teams get better. So, it's not a big thing for us.”
In the game against SRH, Rahul scored only 29 runs in the 33 deliveries he faced, which, despite a good season for him, brought back the criticisms on his strike rate, which used to follow him around the year.
“I think everybody's got their style. KL's got his own unique style, which has made him a fantastic player not just here in India but around the world and respected around the world,” Klusener said on Rahul’s game.
“I think this IPL has been exceptionally tough for him because we've kept losing wickets at poor stages, which hasn't allowed him to kick on where he liked. He probably feels like he's always having to rebuild. So I think as a batting unit around KL, we haven't been as good as we should. So I think it's just been extremely tough for him in that way.”
Despite that, Klusener remains hopeful that not only LSG but also KL will make a strong comeback in their two remaining games.
“It's something we've chatted about as well is that we've just kept losing wickets at tough times, and batters coming in seem to have to be rebuilding the whole time and not just coming into a platform,” Klusener said, highlighting the difficulties Rahul has to deal with while batting.
“So by KL's high standards, he probably would have liked to have kicked on in a few more games and probably would have liked to have at least one or two hundred that haven't worked out for him. But there are still a couple of games, and he's still in a good space. So we've got our fingers crossed for him.”
LSG’s remaining two games are against DC in Delhi and Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede, and with 12 points in 12 games, they not only need to win them both to ensure qualifications but win it big as well, as the SRH game forced their net run rate to take a nosedive to -0.769.
“We've got two games to go. It doesn't really matter what's happened in the past, whether we've won or lost; it makes no difference to us. We're focusing on the next two games. And how best we can get over the line in both of them,” Klusener remarked.
“Whether we qualify or not, I guess, that's of our making from how we played. But, our focus really is to get over the line tomorrow, and then we'll worry about Mumbai after that.”
