Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) might take couple of days to recover from the nightmarish defeat against Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday (April 22).
KL Rahul-led LSG made a mess of an easy run chase and crumbled under pressure before going down to the defending champions by seven runs. Riding on skipper Hardik Pandya's sedate fifty GT posted a lowly total of 135/6 on the board. In reply, Rahul's sluggish knock of 68 off 61 sank LSG's boat at the end and couldn't even score 31 off last 36 balls. It all boiled down to 12 off the final over which the experienced Mohit Sharma comprehensively defended as he only conceded four runs to clinch the issue for GT.
Rahul who completed his fifty off 38 balls and then scored the next 21 runs off 18 when LSG needed him the most.
Meanwhile, in the post match presentation the gutted Rahul said he doesn't know how it all happened, and where did his team go wrong.
“I don't know how it happened, but it has happened. I can't put a finger on where it went wrong, but we lost 2 points today, this is cricket. I thought we were brilliant with the ball, 135 was 10 runs under par, the bowling was exceptional, we started well with the bat, but these things happen, we'll have to take it on the chin. But still a long way to go, 8 points off 7 games, we were on the wrong side of the result today. We were well ahead in the game and I wasn't really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though,” the dejected Rahul said.
Mohit bowled an excellent last over as LSG lost four wickets and managed just four runs in it. The clinical show by Mohit saw Lucknow reach 128/7 in 20 overs and fell seven run short of the 136-run target. KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, and Deepak Hooda were the batters dismissed. The first two were caught in the deep, while the final two returned to pavilion after failing to complete the much-needed double.
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