An elated captain of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), KL Rahul hailed his team’s all-around effort in the 6-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the 15th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 in Mumbai on Thursday. Rahul lauded his team’s powerplay bowling for restricting a strong Delhi Capitals batting unit to 149 for 3.
After Rahul invited Delhi Capitals to bat, the Rishabh Pant-led team managed to post a below-par score of 149 for 3 with opener Prithvi Shaw top-scoring with a 34-ball 61, while captain Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan made useful contributions of 39 not out and 36 not out respectively. LSG chased down the target with two balls to spare, thanks largely to South African Quinton de Kock’s superlative 80 from 52 balls.
For DC, Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets while Shardul Thakur and Lalit Yadav got one each.
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During the post-match presentation, KL Rahul said, “I think we were brilliant (with the ball). In the powerplay, we obviously need to go back and work on. But that’s how powerplays go sometimes. We assessed things well after that and bowled better. Obviously, would have loved the bowlers to assess things a bit earlier, but it was nice to see them discuss the lines, lengths and pace to bowl after the powerplay.”
Speaking about the youngster, Ayush Badoni, KL Rahul lavished praise and said that he is a quick learner and someone who has been delivering under pressure.
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Elaborating the same, KL Rahul said, “That was the honest reason actually (on him saying at the toss that he had no idea why he opted to bowl). You don’t know what to expect of the pitch. Early on in the competition when the pitches are fresh, teams might want to bowl first. He (Badoni) has held his nerve every time he has gone into bat and he’s delivered for us under pressure. Great learning for him, important for him to keep working hard and stay humble. Been a complete team effort so far.”
