Follow UsThe Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) suffered a heavy defeat at their home ground against the Delhi Capitals, who triumphed by eight wickets in a largely one-sided game.
After being sent in to bat first, LSG could score only 159/6 after batting first despite being in a solid position at the halfway mark. Mukesh Kumar was splendid on the day for DC, picking four wickets for just 33 runs. In the chase, DC never faced much issues and KL Rahul (57 off 42) and Abhishek Porel (51 off 36) helped DC reach the target with ease.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant pointed out that LSG were short with the bat on a tricky pitch and that they need to reconfigure their playing XI for the upcoming games.
“We knew we were 20 runs short,” Pant said.
“In Lucknow, toss plays a big part. Whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket. We just had to stay back, but we couldn't get it away. It always happens in Lucknow, in the second innings, the wicket gets better to bat on, and that's how the game goes and you can't be complaining. Yes, toss is playing a huge part here, but as a team, we are not looking for excuses.
“We played Ayush [Badoni] as an impact substitute to get Mayank [Yadav] some game time, just trying to find ways to get him early in the season because it's already halfway around. He came from NCA now, just trying to fit him in.”
Pant also came to bat in the last over of the game and was dismissed on a duck after playing two balls.
“(On Pant batting down the order) Idea was to capitalize,” Pant said.
“We sent Samad to capitalize on a wicket like that. After that, Miller came in and we just got stuck in the wicket. Eventually, these are the things we got to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward. We are gonna regroup, realign and refocus again. Just going to be playing the next match from a fresh start.”
LSG will now play their next match in Mumbai on April 27 against the Mumbai Indians.