Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul has said that his team left almost 20 runs behind on the ground, leading to their loss at the hands of the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday. Earlier in the first half, he (76 off 48 balls) dug deep with Deepak Hooda (50 off 31 balls) as Lucknow managed a competitive 196/5 against Rajasthan.
Rahul and Hooda gave Lucknow a solid footing with a 62-ball 115-run partnership for the third wicket after early blows, but the failure of others meant the hosts couldn't capitalise on the hard work by the two.
Rahul’s 48-ball 76 with eight boundaries and two sixes was his fourth half-century of IPL 2024 while Hooda banished his poor string of scores to make his first big score this IPL.
4,000* runs as an opener
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) April 27, 2024
300* runs this season
50* RUNS TODAY 👏 | @klrahul pic.twitter.com/Z37TpBA4rW
"We left about 20 runs behind. We didn't get off to an ideal start but the partnership that me and Deepak Hooda had [got us on track]," Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
Lucknow had been reduced to 11/2 after being put in to bat but recovered while maintaining a good run rate thanks to Rahul and Hooda's 115-run partnership off 62 deliveries for the third wicket.
The duo smacked 45 in the three overs leading up to Hooda falling for a 31-ball 50. Rahul carried on but failed to apply the finishing touches.
Rahul perished in the 18th over and Lucknow mustered just 25 runs in their last last three overs to finish with 196/5.
"Once we were set, that's the time [in which] if Hooda could have pushed on, got 20 more runs and if I could have pushed on and gotten 20 more runs, we could've probably finished at 220; and we're seeing with more games being played that it's important for the batters to make sure we give that extra cushion for the bowlers," Rahul said.
"They [RR] bowled well in the last couple of overs, we were in a good position at 150/3 by the end of the 15th over. So, I think we should have capitalised a bit more and got about 20-25 runs more," Rahul added.
Rajasthan got off to a strong start in the chase but then Lucknow fought back to remove the in-form trio of Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag in quick succession to have them 78/3 in the ninth.
Amit Mishra, playing his first match of IPL 2024, was brought in as the Impact Player in place of Quinton de Kock and got Riyan with his fourth delivery.
LSG next play the Mumbai Indians on April 30 at home.
