IPL 2023: LSG Captain KL Rahul worried about his performance in the league

KL Rahul managed to score 18 runs off 20 deliveries in a high-scoring game, which LSG won on the last delivery.

In a dramatic chase of 213 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Lucknow emerged victorious in the last ball. After two quick half centuries from Marcus Stoinis and Nicolas Pooran, Lucknow managed to defeat RCB at Chinnaswamy Stadium by just one wicket with no balls left to play. Lucknow at the end of the innings required one run in one ball with just one wicket in hand. Stoinis with 65 in 30 balls and Pooran with his 62 in 19 balls laid the groundwork for Lucknow’s chase against RCB. After the first three wickets in 4 overs, Stoinis had a partnership of 76 runs with Captain KL Rahul. And then, Nicholas Pooran built a partnership of 84 runs in just 5 overs with Badoni to help Lucknow chase the target. In the last two overs, Lucknow panicked but they somehow managed to defeat RCB in the final ball of the game.

LSG Captain KL Rahul not happy with his own batting

Captain KL Rahul was too pleased with LSG's middle order performance. Rahul credited Stoinis and Pooran for earning the 2 points for the Lucknow Super Giants. He praised the middle order and said, “The way Stoin and Pooran played, if we have two points today it is because of them”. Personally, this has been a poor season for KL Rahul as a batsman. He has been struggling to score big runs this season. Rahul also talked about his batting and said, “Not ideal for me, I want to score more runs and get the strike rate up as well. If I score more runs the strike rate will go up”. KL Rahul has so far scored 73 runs in 3 innings of the IPL 2023.

Faf respects Lucknow's firepower strategy in middle order

RCB Captain had played a wonderful inning of 79 and remained unbeaten till the end. He anchored his inning nicely along with Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli. Yet their bowlers disappointed the fans and lost the game by just one wicket. Expressing his disappointment RCB’s Captain Faf Du Plessis said, “Disappointed. I mean they played well through the middle order”. Lucknow’s middle order took on RCB’s main bowlers nicely. Faf said, “Unfortunately they took on one of our stronger bowlers right away… It is a difficult place to bowl in the final overs, you have to be at your best”.  Harshal Patel conceded 4 fours and 3 sixes in his 4 overs. He gave away 48 runs and picked up 2 wickets.

Nicholas Pooran awarded Player of the Match

Coming into the crease under enormous pressure, Nicolas Pooran banged RCB bowlers out of the park. He played a magnificent innings of 62 runs in 19 balls. He smashed 7 sixes and 4 fours in those 19 balls. Pooran was awarded Player of the Match for his knock. Talking about his inning, Pooran said, “The wicket was nice to bat on, It was all about cashing in and getting the execution right. My second went for a six so that put me in a great position”. Pooran dedicated his Player of the Match award to his wife and a newborn baby. Pooran also said that he is in a good state of mind as well. Pooran had 84 runs partnership with Ayush Badoni in just 5 overs.