Lucknow, Apr 19: KL Rahul, the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants, was pleased with his decision-making skills after leading his side to an easy eight-wicket victory over the reigning champion Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match played here on Friday.
Rahul had a good day at work since he changed his bowling attack perfectly, took two catches, and caused a stumping before coming back to smash a 53-ball 82 to win the match.
Rahul, who was named Player of the Match, remarked, “Feels good at the end of the day, When you win, looks like you make all the right decisions,” during the post-match ceremony.
“It’s impossible to recover fully. Depending on the type of wicket we are using and the batters we have available. We talked about them not settling on one type of bowling and spent time doing studies on tactics and strategy. Before Moeen Ali (30 off 20) and MS Dhoni (28 off 9) embarked on a six-hitting rampage to take CSK to a battling 176 for six, LSG had maintained order.
At the halfway point, 160 would have sufficed for me. I sensed that the wicket was sluggish, with just enough grip. That would have been perfect—160–165.
However, when MSD enters, the bowlers become fearful. The audience was raucous, the bowlers were under pressure, and he had done this before. As LSG scored 180 for 2 in 19 overs while chasing 177, Rahul (82) and De Kock (54) batted brilliantly throughout their match-winning partnership of 134, the best partnership for any wicket at the Ekana Stadium.
We could track it down if we batted effectively, I sensed. I’ve been attempting to evaluate the circumstances, and today it seemed to fit. They attempted to stop us with the help of Chennai’s spinners,” he remarked.
“We made an effort to start strong. Attempt to remove them was successful, fortunately. As your collaboration progresses, you will be able to take additional risks. Happy it took place. With dew arriving, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad stated that his team was short by ten to fifteen runs.
“We had a great ending; we could not have hoped for more. However, we were unable to continue following the powerplay until the 14–15th over. We were frequently losing wickets and were 10-15 down.
It is a little challenging to bat, but you need an additional hitter because of the Impact Player regulation. Dew appeared later, so 180–190 felt like a fair range. Rahul and De Kock batted brilliantly during the powerplay, and Gaikwad agreed that they needed to bowl better in the opening six overs, but the CSK bowlers were unable to make a breakthrough.
If we can get wickets in the powerplay, it puts the opposition on the defensive, so that’s one area we would like to improve. I’m excited to play them again soon and I’ll return with my homework finished,” he remarked.
On April 23, the two sides will play in Chepauk once more. PTI ATK UNG.