Lucknow Super Giants’ campaign in their maiden season of the Indian Premier League came to an end after suffering a 14-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL Eliminator. They were restricted to193/6 while chasing 208.
Having reduced the Royal Challengers to 113/4 in the 14th over, the Super Giants had taken a massive stride in the game. With the likes of Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan in their rank, it looked like they may restrict the opponents well below the challenging target.
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But Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik then added 92 runs in the last 41 balls to propel Bangalore across the 200-run mark. Patidar slammed an unbeaten 112, while Dinesh Karthik made a quickfire 37.
In response, Lucknow lost an early wicket in Quinton de Kock, who edged out to Dinesh Karthik on the last ball of the first over. Rahul then anchored the innings in to ensure Lucknow stay on the course, but the much-needed acceleration never came from him.
While the asking rate kept hovering over 10, Rahul was content with his measured approach, and at one point, he was batting on 53 after playing 43 balls. Even during the closing stage of the game, Rahul was unable to time his strokes.
The LSG captain consumed almost 50 percent of the resource but managed only 79 runs. He played four more balls than Patidar but scored 33 runs less.
He admitted how Patidar’s knock, which came at a strike rate of over 200, proved to be a major difference. “Difference was obviously Patidar playing such a knock. When someone in the top three scores a hundred, more often the team wins. They fielded really well and we were poor,” said KL Rahul in the post-match conference.
Former India cricketer Dodda Ganesh wrote: “Didn’t quite understand what KL was doing in the middle overs knocking 1s & 2s. You’ve all the shots but still don’t want to play it?”
This wasn’t taken very well, and fans didn’t hold back when slamming Rahul’s outdated approach.
Featured Image Credit: BCCI/IPL
