Lucknow faced Punjab in the 42nd match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the MCA Stadium in Pune. With a fair bit of assistance for the bowlers from the pitch, the match turned out to be a low-scoring affair.
Punjab won the toss in the match and decided to field first. Lucknow lost KL Rahul early, but Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda stitched an 85 runs partnership and laid a strong foundation for the team. But they lost the momentum losing five wickets for just 13 runs. With the strong start, they looked like reaching a 180-plus total but managed to reach only 153 runs from their 20 overs. The bowlers of Lucknow were right on the money throughout the second innings and thus they ended up winning the match by 20 runs. But the batting mishap in the middle order has not pleased the skipper of the team.
During the post-match conversation, Rahul said- “I was disappointed and fuming at the end of the first innings. Stupid cricket with the bat.â€
“We need to get better with the bat. Half-time, when Quinny (Quinton de Kock) and Deepak (Hooda) were batting. They paced it really well to get to 60 in nine overs on a tricky wicket. Had we batted smartly, we could have gotten to 180-190,â€- Rahul added.
While speaking about the bowling effort of his team, Rahul praised his bowlers for defending the moderate total so comfortably. “I think we just need to be smarter in reading the game. If we could have not played too many shots we could have done better. We have been good on the field and good with the ball. Just need to keep repeating the good things. The way we responded with the ball was phenomenal. Krunal has been brilliant throughout the tournament. This season he has really worked on his bowling.â€- he said while talking about the bowling effort.
