Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) comprehensively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match on April 27 (Saturday). Despite putting a massive score of 196 runs on the board, the LSG failed to defend their total as the Royals chased the target with an over in hand, thanks to half-centuries from Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel. As a result, the Super Giants lost their fourth match of the season out of nine games.
However, KL Rahul’s captaincy decisions came under the radar as Rahul admitted that he couldn’t find the right time to introduce Ravi Bishnoi while match-ups also played a key role in his decision-making.
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“There is a bit of chat before the game with the numbers and how opposition players match-up. Mishra is an experienced player and today was a day we knew he could be useful with how slow he bowls and with the larger boundaries. Once the runs kept flowing, they put pressure on our bowlers,” Rahul told the broadcasters after the game, as quoted by Cricbuzz. “There were 2-3 overs when Krunal bowled really well and squeezed them but then they attacked the fast bowlers. I couldn’t get a good time to get Bishnoi, wanted to keep him for the backend when Rovman and Hetmyer came out to bat because we know he can bowl well to them.”
However, at one stage when Rahul and Deepak Hooda were scoring runs freely, it seemed like the Lucknow Super Giants would post a total of more than 200 as well. However, some brilliant bowling in the death overs from the Royals restricted the Super Giants from crossing even the 200-run mark as well.
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“I think we left about 20 runs behind. We didn’t get an ideal start but with the partnership me and Hooda had was great. In these sorts of games, the set batter had to score close to a hundred after getting to 50-60. I think we were 150 after about 15 overs, should have capitalised on it a bit more. I think it is clear the team with more sixes ends up winning. We do try to hit our sixes but today we had to change our approach after those two early wicket. If Hooda pushed on and scored 20 more, and I got 20 more then we’d finish around 220. That would have been the difference, that’s the 20 runs we left behind. We’re seeing with every game how important it is to give the bowlers that extra cushion because they are under the pump,” KL Rahul concluded.
