Break helped us bounce back, feels LSG skipper KL Rahul

KL Rahul

Down in the dumps in one game, hitting a high in the next. That's how fortunes can change in the IPL. Lucknow Super Giants were unable to chase down a mere 136 from a winning position the other day at home and then on a batting paradise here, they notched up the second-highest total in IPL history.

The target of 258 on Friday was always going to challenge Punjab Kings despite the pitch being a beauty. Punjab were cleaned up for 201 with young pacer Yash Thakur claiming 4-37.

That's the challenge of a tournament where the teams have to play in different conditions. LSG skipper KL Rahul was candid enough to admit: "The last game was a bit of a downer and did hurt us a lot, but we had three or four days' break after that, which was good. Everyone got their minds off cricket and just rested. And that helped us come back rejuvenated.

"Obviously, when we play back home [in Lucknow], the wickets are different and challenging and when you come to play on wickets like this, you get excited as a batter. Getting 257 speaks very highly of our batting. Those first two or three overs, Kyle [Mayers] put pressure on their bowling. That set the tone for us and we took it from there.

Also Read: IPL 2023: Stoinis, Mayers power LSG to mammoth 257-5 v PBKS

"We spend a lot of time thinking about what tactics. We have three power-hitters in Kyle, [Nicholas] Pooran and [Marcus] Stoinis and then guys like Ayush Badoni who can bat around them. We just try to use players in situations and see how we can get the best out of them."

Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan who was returning after three games due to a shoulder injury, felt that the decision to play an extra pace bowler hurt the team. "We gave too many runs away and we paid the price. I feel that the strategy to play an extra fast bowler backfired whereas KL used an extra spinner. I tried to change some things and it didn't work but that's alright. It's a good learning for me and we'll come back better and stronger."

Punjab's batting coach Wasim Jaffer said: "The previous night there was a lot of dew on the ground and we were banking on the dew factor which did not happen. And then, we gave away a lot of runs. However, getting to 200 when we were under the pump is a positive for us."

The match aggregate of 458 is the third-highest in IPL history and there have already been 20 scores of 200-plus in this IPL, beating last season's tally of 18.