Time for LSG to draw fresh strategy, seize home advantage
LUCKNOW: At the half-way stage of the current IPL season, it’s time for the Lucknow Super Giants to draw a fresh strategy so that they can tick all the right boxes for the matches ahead, especially after back-to-back losses in the last two games.
A loss in the match against five-time champions Chennai Super Kings here on the home turf on Friday will dent the LSG’s chances further for a playoff berth, which the KL Rahul-led side clinched on both the occasions in the past. After a loss against hosts Rajasthan Royal in the season opener, LSG launched their comeback journey in style, defeating Punjab Kings and then Gujarat Titans before losing to Delhi Capitals in the third game.
There was no respite to LSG thereafter as they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In all three losses, LSG fell 25 to 35 runs short.
Not getting a good score while batting first is a matter of concern for the team management also.
“We need to start a fresh and that too with more positive intent as posting a big total on the board for rivals is very much required,” LSG’s assistant coach and former South African allrounder Lance Klusener said on Thursday.
“It’s something we have spoken about a lot this week and I think it’s something that we’ve paid a lot of attention to in the last week or so. We want to show a lot more courage in batting,” he said, adding, “We want to show a lot more bravery, a lot more trust in our own abilities. Because if you look around the country, there are some big scores that are going on. And I think the way that we’ve been playing needs to be adapted because if we want to win this competition, we need to be braver with the bat.”
Klusener, however, refused to comment on the possibility of tearaway Mayank Yadav, who has been nursing an injury, playing in the match against CSK on Friday, but said that LSG have quality spinners for the match.
“I have no knowledge about Yadav, but we have some quality spinners to tackle the opposition on home turf.”
Klusener’s remark was enough to indicate that LSG’s choice to play on the red clay turf No. 4 at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium will force CSK to face a spin-heavy attack, including young left-arm spinner M Siddharth, who has so far been quite economical. This will also make CSK push veteran spinner Moin Ali alongside Rachin Ravindra and Ravindra Jadeja. In their last match, CSK defeated arch-rivals Mumbai Indians by 20 runs.
Even then CSK’s chief coach Stephen Fleming feels that the home team LSG are a tough side.
“We regard them very highly.
They’re a very good side and we don’t really talk about momentum because this can go so quickly. What we want to do is keep repeating the things that we did well and last game there were some good things playing in Mumbai.”
“For us against the good Mumbai side, there were some aspects that we really enjoyed and some other areas that we need to work on tonight. We have no time really to be too comfortable and if you get comfortable then you make mistakes. So yeah, we’re really looking forward to tomorrow be a good challenge,” he said.
On LSG’s pacer Mayank Yadav, former New Zealand skipper Fleming said, “He looks an exciting talent. There are some good pace bowling options coming through. We’ve got one. One Ajit Singh who’s got good pace. One of the challenges is fitness. So, it’s making sure that these young fast bowlers are looked after during domestic seasons and then during IPL.
But yeah, there’s something exciting about fast bowling, isn’t there? It can change a game. And we’ve seen that already. Mayank has been a good addition and if he plays tomorrow it’s going to be a good entertainment,” he added.
So far, CSK have played six games, with four wins and two losses. The two teams have faced each other three times in IPL contests and LSG have won on one occasion, while CSK have also won once. A match between the two teams here in Lucknow was washed out in 2023.*