IPL 2023: Loopholes in LSG strategy need to be plugged before it’s too late

KL Rahul

The City of Nawabs is also known as the City of Tahzeeb (culture). And keeping with the reputation of the city, the motto of Lucknow Super Giants is "Abad Se Harayege" (We will defeat you respectfully).

But in fierce, cut-throat completion like the IPL there is no place for being respectful. One needs to be ruthless. If you let your guard down you can face humiliation. That is what the Lucknow Super Giants had to experience against Gujarat Titans on Saturday evening when they lost from a winning position.

Undoubtedly, LSG skipper KL Rahul was largely to blame because of his lame batting when urgency was needed in the hour in the latter part of the chase. After the unexpected defeat, he said "We need to take it on the chin." Is there any other option when you muck up big-time? All you can do is learn from such mistakes and revisit strategies.

There are a lot of loopholes in the planning of the team management, headed by Gautam Gambhir. One of the biggest is keeping a player of the calibre of Quinton de Kock on the bench. Any other team would have given their right arm to have him in the XI. But the LSG management thinks he is dispensable. There is no doubt Kyle Mayers is doing fairly well as an opener. But his efforts are more about cameos rather than taking the team home. That's where de Kock scores higher than Mayers.

The other problem has been the inconsistency of overseas players, Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis. Both have been used more as loose cannons. The LSG team management should again take the blame for holding back the duo till the last few overs and allowing Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda to bat higher in the order. They have failed to raise the tempo when required, thus putting tremendous pressure on the batters like Pooran and Stoinis.

LSG's Afghan pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq told the media after the match: "The game was in our control. It was our game for the majority of the match apart from the last four overs, when they bowled well. They got some good spinners like Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan, and Jayant Yadav and they put pressure on our batters. And once you are in the last two-three overs, it's anyone's game. They bowled well in the last four overs and we couldn't finish it off."

A defeat like this exposes a lot of shortcomings from which the team strategists need to learn quickly. Hopefully, the team management will revisit the strategy and set things right before it is too late. The league is at the half-way stage and as teams grapple to grab the top four spots, Lucknow Super Giants will need to be much sharper in planning and execution.

Also Read: Batted well but didn't capitalize: LSG skipper KL Rahul after losing to CSK