Bengaluru, Apr 3: Lucknow Super Giants registered their second win of the IPL 2024 season with a 28-run triumph over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
LSG put up a total of 181/5 thanks to Quinton de Kock’s 81 and Nicholas Pooran’s unbeaten 40-run blitzkrieg, before youngster Mayank Yadav’s three-wicket haul helped bundle RCB out for 153 in 19.4 overs.
Mayank Yadav, Player of the Match, said Feel really good, two Player of the Match awards in two matches. I am happier that we won both the matches. My goal is to play for the country. I feel this is just the start. I enjoyed Cameron Green’s wicket the most. There are a lot of factors to bowl quick – diet, sleep, training. I am focusing a lot on my diet and recovery – ice bath.
KL Rahul, LSG captain, said, Overall a really good performance. The wicket was a bit tricky, there was some help for the seamers, it was slightly on the sticky side. We got off to a really good start, Quinton gave us a really good start. By the time the opposition found out what were the lengths to hit, we had gotten away with the game and had probably 10-15 runs ahead of what we needed to be. That’s what helped us in the back end though they bowled really well in the back end. The chat was very simple – there’s a bit help in the wicket, try and use the wicket, not go to the yorkers really quickly. Here in Chinnaswamy, the pressure can come on you really quickly with one or two fours/sixes in an over, just changes everything. It’s important to stay calm and keep trusting that the wicket will help us. One ball hit me really hard, so happy to see Mayank bowl the way he’s been bowling in the last couple of games. He’s quietly patiently waited for two seasons in the dug-out, missed out last year because of injury unfortunately. But he’s been in Bombay with the physios working really hard. He understands that bowling 155 is not easy and in a young age, he’s had a few injuries. He’s really professional in looking after his body, it’s really good to see and has a great temperament. Enjoying seeing him bowl from probably 20 yards behind the stumps, that’s where I’d like to be when he’s bowling. I am always tempted to bowl first, that’s generally been the trend in T20 cricket. If I have a look at our record, it speaks differently. The good thing that I am doing is losing the toss, that really helps. If we get bowled out or if the opposition blasts us out of the game, then there’s something to go back and think about. If we are doing most things right … it’s okay to lose sometimes, the opposition is also going to turn up on the ground and want to win. We don’t really stress too much about it. The first game was one such game, we tried really hard, they bowled better than us. We have bounced back really well. This is how we generally play our cricket. Powerplay bowling has always been a question mark for us in the two seasons that we have played, trying to fix that. We’ve gone spin this game, very obvious match-up against RCB which worked. We’ll try to find ways to get those wickets in the powerplay.
Faf du Plessis, RCB captain, said Spot on (dropped catches cost us). Two very good players, QdK when was on 25-30 and Nicky P was on 2, 60-65 extra runs, mistakes like that can cost you in the IPL. It is the new action you haven’t faced before, and if they have pace then you need time to get used to it (about Mayank). But his ability to control length and have accuracy is impressive. I didn’t think we were very good with our bowling especially in the powerplay, Maxwell brought it back and there were some pleasing signs in the death overs. You need two guys to bat through and get a partnership which we were not able to do. We need the strong characters in the dressing room to put their hand up.