KL Rahul defends slow approach with bat in LSG's win over RRRealised it was not 180 pitch in 1st over

By India Today Sports DeskLucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul defended the team’s cautious approach with the bat, saying he and his opening partner Kyle Mayers realised that the nature of the pitch at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium did not warrant them to go hard and target 180. Despite posting only 154, LSG defeated Rajasthan Royals in their IPL 2023 match in Jaipur on Wednesday, April 19.

KL Rahul played out a maiden over against Trent Boult after Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bat. Rahul lacked the intent in the powerplay wherein he scored 19 off 19 balls as LSG managed just 37 runs in the first 6 overs. Rahul and Mayers looked to attack after the end of the fielding restrictions and managed an 82-run opening stand in 10.4 overs.

Rahul fell while trying to go for a big hit in the 11th over when he was caught at long-on in Jason Holder’s over. Rahul managed 39 off 32 deliveries while Mayers pushed on and scored his 3rd fifty of IPL 2023 season – a 42-ball 51.

However, Lucknow lost Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda in quick succession before Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis played handy cameos to make sure they posted a total in excess of 150.

IPL 2023Points Table

Speaking about the nature of the pitch in the first IPL match of the season in Jaipur, KL Rahul said”At the 10-over mark, the message we sent out was that maybe 165 is a good total, so, let us try to get to 160. Did not have to set ourselves very high. They are a quality team, they have good bowlers. We fell 10 runs short maybe but we made it up with the ball in the end. There was no dew and that was fair on both teams.”

When asked how he and Mayers were able to decode the nature of the pitch as early as the first over, KL Rahul said a glimpse of the pitch on the eve of the match told them that it might not be a high-scoring venue despite the hardness of the surface.

“We came in yesterday and we were thinking 180 is a par score. Knowing the batters they have, the mindset was to get 15 runs extra. When Boult bowled the first over, me and Kyle had a chat and we said that the ball was not coming on. We assessed it quite well but if there were a couple more partnerships in the middle, we could have gotten more,” he added.

SAMSON’S RUN-OUT TURNING POINT

It was a struggle for the batters from both teams as even the dangerous Jos Buttler was not getting the timing right during his 40-ball 41 as there was no dew in the second innings as well.

Thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 35-ball 44, Rajasthan got 87 for their opening partnership but they lost the next 4 wickets for just 17 runs.

Sanju Samson, who came into bat at No. 3, was run-out on 2 after a mix-up with Buttler in the middle in the 13th over.

Rahul said Samson’s run-out titled the balance in their favor as the Rajasthan captain had headed into the match after having hit a match-winning 60 off 31 balls against Gujarat Titans.

“That Samson run out and two wickets falling back-to-back lets you to come back into the game. RR’s top three-four are really strong and our plan was to get them out early, and it came via a run-out today,” Rahul said.

Having won 4 out of 6 matches, LSG will look to inch closer toward the playoffs spot when they take on Gujarat Titans on April 22.