Star India batter KL Rahul recalled the one-of-a-kind match between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on May 8, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, in Hyderabad. The home side reached the 166-run target easily as Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head smashed quickfire half-centuries against a hapless LSG bowling unit. SRH needed just 9.4 overs to reach their target and that didn’t go down well with the LSG owner, Sanjiv Goenka, as he was seen having an intense chat with the then LSG captain Rahul.
Speaking about the one-sided clash, Rahul said, “I mean, I don’t really know how much was made outside, but I just remember it was probably one of the worst games I’ve been part of as a player. But also, just from behind the stumps, I was amazed at how Sunrisers battered us,” Rahul said while speaking exclusively to Star Sports, on an exclusive show – ‘KL Rahul – Unplugged’
“We watched on TV how dominating or how dangerous Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were. But to see it from up close, anything that we did that day seemed to find the boundary. Any ball our bowlers bowled seemed to hit the middle of the bat and fly into the crowd. To get 160, 170 runs in nine-odd overs was ridiculous. And almost like, we had to pinch ourselves to know what really happened,” he further added.
However, what happened on the field after the game wasn’t the nicest thing and KL Rahul said that it wasn’t what anyone wants to see on a cricket field.
“As a team, we were all in shock because we were at the stage in that tournament where every game was very important. We had to win, I think, three out of five games or two out of the last four games. When this happened, it was just a big shock for all of us,” he continued.
“Whatever happened on the field after the game wasn’t the nicest thing to be part of or something that anyone wants to see on the cricket field. So yeah, I think it did affect the entire group. We still had a chance to make it into the playoffs. We had a chat as a team and tried to regroup, put everything aside, and try to put our best foot forward. We tried our best, but unfortunately, our best wasn’t good enough always. It was a bummer that we couldn’t really make the playoffs or win the season as we had hoped,” KL Rahul concluded.
