KL Rahul admitted that LSG bowlers couldn’t handle pressure in their home game against KKR at the IPL 2024.
KL Rahul bemoaned the poor turnout of the Lucknow Super Giants after his side scripted an unwanted record against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League season 2024 on Sunday. Led by Shreyas Iyer, former champions KKR climbed to the top of the IPL 2024 points table after thrashing Rahul’s LSG by 98 runs in match No.54 of the cash-rich tournament at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Lucknow Super Giants’ skipper KL Rahul and Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper Shreyas Iyer after the match (ANI )
Enjoying his best-ever season as an opener, KKR star Sunil Narine played a quick-fire knock of 81 in just 39 balls to set up a match-winning total for the Knight Riders. Narine’s batting blitz, followed by Ramandeep Singh’s cameo of 25 (6), powered the Gautam Gambhir-mentored KKR side to a gigantic 235-6 in 20 overs. In reply, Rahul’s LSG side folded for 137 in 16.1 overs as the hosts recorded their biggest defeat by runs in the world’s richest T20 league.
Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now!
ALSO READ: ‘Dhoni shouldn’t play if he wants to bat at No.9…’: Legends fume at former CSK captain for ‘not taking responsibility’
‘Poor performance overall’
Outplayed by the Knight Riders in their backyard, LSG skipper Rahul admitted that the Super Giants delivered a ‘poor performance’ with bat, ball and in the field. “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. We didn’t (hit our lengths consistently), just had a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field. 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,” Rahul said after the game.
What happened in LSG’s home game against KKR?
LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq picked up three wickets but leaked 49 runs in his four overs. Yash Thakur bagged a solitary wicket and conceded 46 runs in his four overs against the free-scoring KKR side. Chasing the massive total against LSG, skipper Rahul scored 25 off 21 balls while Marcus Stoinis perished for 36 in 21 deliveries. KKR’s Harshit Rana (3) and Varun Chakaravarthy (3) shared six wickets in Kolkata’s comfortable win over the Super Giants.
‘It’s about execution and we went wrong…’
“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 for the team,” Rahul added.
