The team of Lucknow Super Giants faltered after a good start. (IPL photo)
New Delhi: This question is currently troubling the Lucknow team, its owner and fans the most. Lucknow has to play an important match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. Hyderabad team has 8 points after 10 matches. They have this chance to win the next four matches and get 16 points. On the other hand, the Lucknow team has slipped from the top-4 at the moment. At this time he has 11 points in 11 matches. If she wins all the remaining three matches, then only she will reach 17 points.
Remind you that a match between Lucknow and Chennai was abandoned due to rain. Because of this, 1-1 points were divided in both the teams. After that Chennai won two consecutive matches and collected 15 points but Lucknow is still stuck there. In these circumstances, the fear has increased that something similar might happen to Lucknow as happened in 2022. Lucknow had made it to the playoffs with a brilliant performance in 2022, but were eliminated after losing in the knockout match.
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This season was also a great start
In this season too, the Lucknow team made a great start. In the first match, he defeated Delhi Capitals by 50 runs. After this, in the next match, Chennai Super Kings were defeated by 12 runs. Sunrisers Hyderabad were defeated by 5 wickets in the third match and then Royal Challengers Bangalore by 1 wicket in the fourth match. It seemed that the way Gujarat and Lucknow surprised all the big teams last season, the same is going to happen this time too.
But the Punjab Kings broke the winning streak of Lucknow. After this, Lucknow was able to win only 1 match out of 6 matches. Due to rain in one match, he had to distribute points. Overall, the situation became such that the Lucknow team, which collected 8 points in the first 4 matches, got only 3 points from the next 7 matches.
Ready to ring Hyderabad in our colours. pic.twitter.com/a3U048Qweb
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) May 12, 2023
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Where is Lucknow going wrong?
Lucknow’s captain KL Rahul may not have been in full colour. But after the 9th match, he had to be ruled out due to injury. Its moral effect falls on the team. Apart from this, no one can deny that the dispute between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli must have had an impact on the players. IPL is such a tournament where there are a lot of league matches.
In such a situation, it is good if the ‘focus’ of the players remains only on cricket. There are many players in every franchise whose ‘exposure’ remains less. For him, the tussle between two big players in the middle of the field is not normal. It is natural for the mind to wander. Expecting players to ‘ignore’ such incidents is like expecting a lot of ‘maturity’ from them. Which does not happen in new players.
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Where did it go wrong in terms of performance?
The real problem for Lucknow was its domestic bowlers, who did not perform as expected. Ravi Bishnoi was the only bowler who lived up to the expectations. Avesh Khan’s rhythm has not been seen yet. Only 7 wickets came in his account in 8 matches. He gave runs with an economy of around 10. Same was the condition of Yash Thakur. 5 wickets in 5 matches and an economy of around 10. The effect of the colorless performance of the domestic bowlers is clearly visible on the performance of the team.
Batting in the middle order also looked weak. Marcus Stoinis definitely scored a brilliant half-century in two matches, but he failed to handle the middle order of the team the way he should have. In the absence of KL Rahul, there were high expectations from an experienced player like Stoinis, but he failed to ‘convert’ a good start into big innings. Now the overall situation is such that the mistakes have to be rectified immediately. Otherwise, the smile of the players of Lucknow will not be seen till the next season.
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