In the 54th match of IPL (Indian Premier League) 2024, Lucknow Super Giants had to face a crushing defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders. On Sunday, May 5, both the teams were face to face at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. In this match, Lucknow won the toss and decided to bowl first. Coming to bat first, KKR performed brilliantly with the bat and scored a total of 235 runs in the first innings.

In reply, LSG could score only 137 runs in the run chase and ultimately lost the match by 98 runs. Interestingly, this was the first time in IPL 2024 that a team had scored 200 or more while batting first in seven matches in Lucknow. After the end of the match, LSG captain talked about his team’s poor performance and told why his team lost the match.

Captain KL Rahul talked big after LSG’s defeat

At the post match presentation ceremony KL Rahul Said, “There were a lot of runs to be scored in the second innings. When you are chasing big targets, you end up putting in too much effort and end up losing wickets. Overall just a poor performance by the team. We did not bowl well and the overall performance with bat, ball and fielding was poor. Sunil Narine and Phil Salt batted well in the powerplay. They always put a lot of pressure on the opposition team. Our young bowlers could not handle that kind of pressure and hit some good shots.”

The LSG captain further said, “IPL is like that, you play against really good players and that is when your character is tested. We could not reach the target. The wicket was really good, it felt like it was a good wicket, there was a bit of bounce if you bowled hard and back of the length, but nothing out of the ordinary and it didn’t feel like the pitch was bad. 235 was probably 20 or 30 runs above the par score and our batting performance was really bad. When you are chasing such a big score you are under pressure.”

The captain admitted, “The bowlers tried their best, but it is really a young group. The sooner you learn, the better it is for the team. When we have come against batsmen like Sunil and any powerful batsman, we have made some mistakes. This kind of attack creates pressure on our bowlers.

Once we come back to the dressing room, the conversation will be to move forward from this defeat and learn from the mistakes we made in this match. Try to improve them and become better. We are ready for the next three matches. It is very clear to us, if you want to reach the top four, you have to win all the games. “This will give us some freedom to go out there and go into the game a little more fearless, a little braver.”