After the victory against Mumbai Indians in their last fixture of the Indian Premier League 2024, Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul said on Friday that he was disappointed with the team’s overall performance in the ongoing 17th edition of the cash-rich league. Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir’s fiery knocks went in vain as MI conceded an 18-run loss against LSG in the IPL 2024 match at the Wankhede Stadium. The wicketkeeper-batter asserted that at the beginning of the ongoing season, he really fealt that LSG had a strong team with most bases covered.

He further said that the Lucknow franchise met with a lot of injuries in the ongoing 17th edition of the cash-rich league.

“Very disappointing. At the beginning of the season, I really felt we had a strong team and had most bases covered. A couple of injuries – happen to every team. We didn’t play well enough collectively. Today was a really good performance. This is the kind of game we wanted to play more. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that. Really happy for them. The franchise has invested a lot of time and energy with them (Indian pacers in LSG). It’s not just two months in the year. We sent Mayank and Yudhvir to South Africa to train with Morne Morkel. Hard work for them has paid off, but the franchise and the team have worked a lot with them. I’m not sure,” Rahul said in the post-match presentation.

The 32-year-old player further stated that this season he has learnt a lot about his batting and what he has to do to get back into the Indian team.

“There’s not much T20 cricket coming up now. It’s been a season where I’ve learnt a lot about my own batting and what I need to do to get back in the team. Maybe middle-order, maybe not. We would’ve ideally wanted him (Pooran) to bat higher, but with how the team’s lined up, we want our senior international players to bat in positions where they can absorb pressure. Didn’t want our two overseas batters to bat close together. I’m on my father-in-law’s team now. We’ll both be cheering for Sharma Ji Ka Beta in the World Cup,” the LSG skipper added.

Recapping the match, after winning the toss MI sent LSG to bat first but that did not go in their favour as KL Rahul (55 runs from 41 balls, 3 fours and 3 sixes) and Nicholas Pooran (75 runs from 29 balls, 5 fours and 8 sixes) played a fiery knock in the first inning. Marcus Stoinis (28 runs from 22 balls, 5 fours) and Ayush Badoni (22* runs from 10 balls, 1 four and 2 sixes) were the other standout batters for LSG as they propelled the visitors to 214/6.

Piyush Chawla led the MI bowling attack as he picked up three wickets in his four-over spell.

In the run chase, the hosts had a stupendous start while chasing a 215-run target but after the end of the fourth over, rain played a spoilsport for which the game was halted for a few minutes. However, that did not break the MI openers’ momentum as Rohit Sharma (68 runs from 38 balls, 10 fours and 3 sixes) and Dewald Brevis (23 runs from 20 balls, 1 four and 2 sixes) played a partnership of 88 runs.

Naman Dhir’s (62* runs from 28 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes) stunning knock in the later half of the run chase shed a ray of hope on the MI dugout as they thought the hosts could win the match but he failed to clinch a win in the end and conceded a 18-run loss on Friday.

Naveen-ul-Haq and Ravi Bishnoi led the LSG bowling as both of them picked up two wickets in their respective overs.

After the win, LSG ended their IPL 2024 campaign in sixth place in the standings with 14 points. While MI had a season to forget as they finished at the bottom of the table with 8 points.

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