Follow UsMay 17 (Friday) proved to be a bittersweet night for both KL Rahul and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The Super Giants registered an impressive win over Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede, but their season also came to an end on the same night.
LSG entered IPL 2024 as one of the pre-tournament favorites to make it to the final four, but, as it turned out, the Super Giants ended up failing to reach the playoffs for the first time in their history, after previously qualifying in both IPL 2022 and IPL 2023.
In the aftermath of the MI clash, skipper Rahul asserted that it was ‘very disappointing’ that LSG failed to make it to the playoffs.
“Very disappointing. At the beginning of the season, I really felt we had a strong team and had most bases covered. We had a couple of injuries but it happens to every team. We didn't play well enough collectively,” Rahul said at the post match presentation.
“Today was a really good performance. This is the kind of game we wanted to play more. Unfortunately we didn't do that.”
Still, despite not making it to the playoffs, this was not a campaign devoid of positives, for the Super Giants. A major positive was the showing of their Indian pace contingent, which made the rest of the field take notice. The LSG Indian pace revolution this season was spearheaded by none other than the rapid Mayank Yadav, who had a debut season to remember.
“Really happy for them (the youngsters), we spent a lot of time and energy with the squad,” Rahul said of the young quicks.
“The support staff and we had sent Mayank and Yudhvir to South Africa to train with Morkel. They got good facilities to train with. Hard work for them has paid off, but the franchise and the team has worked a lot with them.”
Amidst speculation prior to the season that Rahul might bat in the middle-order to push his T20WC case, the LSG skipper continued to open the batting. When asked if he would continue opening the batting in the near future, Rahul said that he cannot give any assurances.
“Maybe, maybe not, there's not much T20 cricket coming up [for me] now. It depends on where I stand and what I need to do to get back in the team, I'll think about what the team needs,” Rahul said of opening the batting.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.