RCB vs LSG: KL Rahul justifies holding back Marcus Stoinis against Royal Challengers Bangalore
India Today
Lucknow slipped to the fourth position after losing against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but owing to a healthy run-rate, might just be able to hold onto their position if SRH lose their next game.
KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, 19 April in the Indian Premier League. Owing to the loss in the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, Lucknow slipped down to the fourth spot, surrendering the second place to the Bangalore based team.
With a healthy run rate of +0.124, Lucknow do not run the risk of slipping away from the top four just yet, but that has not stopped the fans from criticising captain KL Rahul’s tactical calls from the game.
One of the contentious calls from last game that sent the fans into a frenzy was holding back Australian all rounder Marcus Stoinis till the 14th over, sending him to bat at #7 in the 14th over of the game. With the required rate already pushing 12 at that point, and LSG having lost 5 wickets already, even a stroke filled (25 off 14) from Stoinis did not help Lucknow’s cause who faltered under the run-rate pressure.
KL Rahul though had a different take on the matter, and justified sending Stoinis down the order, stating that the big hitting Australian is there to capitalise in the final five overs of the game.
“The argument behind holding Stoinis back is that we know he is dangerous at the back end. That’s why we hold him back till the 15th over. If there is a little grip on the surface, we send him late and in case the wicket is better, like against Mumbai we sent him in early. These are the strategic calls we take based on games.”
Lucknow have a tall batting line-up with the likes of Stoinis and Jason Holder in their tail, but struggled to chase down 182 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Josh Hazlewood was the wrecker in chief, picking up four wickets for just 25 runs.
Lucknow have a decent run-up of games next week, as they play bottom of the table Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings in their next two games.
