Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul defended their approach to a 208-run chase in the IPL 2022 Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday amid criticism about the pacing of his innings. Lucknow fell short of the target by 15 runs and crashed out of the tournament and Rahul’s knock of 79 from 58 deliveries did not help the team’s cause.
RCB rode on Rajat Patidar’s 112 not out from just 54 deliveries to post a daunting 207-run target after Rahul won the toss and opted to field. While Lucknow lost Quinton de Kock early, Rahul held the innings together. Manan Vohra, who was sent in to bat at No. 3, managed 19 off 11 balls but Rahul and Deepak Hooda stitched a 97-run stand to keep LSG in the hunt.
While LSG got to 62 at the end of the powerplay after Rahul started briskly, they managed only 49 runs between overs 7 and 13 despite having 2 set batters in the middle. Hooda accelerated but the pressure of the rising asking rate forced errors from the LSG camp. After Wanindu Hasaranga castled Hooda in the 15th over, Rahul struggled to get support from the other end as the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Evin Lewis could not get going from the word go.
“Now looking back it is just about two big hits in the middle overs and that could have gotten us over the line. It’s not that we didn’t try to hit those four and sixes, we were trying but I think in the middle they bowled really well,” Rahul told the press.
“In the middle I think Harshal’s (Patel) two in the middle I think pushed us back a little bit because he went of 7 or 8 runs. He didn’t give away much and he really changed the pace when he bowled to the field and that’s where we were pushed back a little bit,” Rahul added.
“Like I said, it was just 2 hits away and if we couldn’t that in the middle overs, probably we would have won this game.”
While Lucknow’s campaign ended in the Eliminator, RCB will take on Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 on Friday. The winner of Qualifier 2 will take on Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 29.
