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Lucknow Super Giants: (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)
Lucknow made their debut in the 15th edition of the Indian T20 League under the leadership of KL Rahul. The franchise compiled an outstanding squad and played exceedingly well throughout the tournament. However, their performances saw a dip at the business end of the tournament but still managed to reach the playoffs.
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Lucknow finished at number three on the table after the league stage matches and but couldn’t seal the spot for the final. KL Rahul and Co. lost to Bangalore by 14 runs in the Eliminator match. Prior to the start of the season, they were touted as one of the favourites to lift the title. Lucknow had a lot of all-rounders in the squad but their hopes of lifting the trophy ended in the knockout game.
In this article, we will be talking about three reasons why Lucknow failed to win the Indian T20 League 2022:
- KL Rahul’s slow innings in the Eliminator
Chasing a mammoth score of 207 runs on the board, KL Rahul couldn’t pace his innings well during the chase. He took little risk in the first 15 overs and didn’t try to score boundaries and the required rate kept going up.
He changed gears after the 15th over but it put pressure on the other batters to score runs right from the onset of their innings. KL Rahul managed to score 79 runs in 58 balls but couldn’t take the team home in the end.
- Playing Manan Vohra ahead of Ewin Lewis in the Eliminator
In the Eliminator match, Manan Vohra was included in the playing XI. However, it wasn’t wise decision to send him at number three in pursuit of a mammoth run-chase, with Ewin Lewis also waiting for his chance to bat. The West Indies batter played at an unusual position of number 6 and by the time he walked out to the crease, the game had already gone out of the hands of Lucknow.
- Chasing the totals gone wrong
After the first 11 matches of the season, Lucknow were at the top of the points table with 16 points. However, Lucknow then suffered two consecutive defeat at the hands of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Both times the team lost while chasing the score. They then failed to chase down the score in the final as well. In their last 11 matches, Lucknow lost five matches they played while chasing. Clearly, Lucknow lacked the approach needed to chase down the scores.