Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden, who is now a broadcaster, has taken a harsh stance against the KL Rahul-led LSG following their poor batting display against SRH in the Indian Premier League 2024 Match 57.
The Lucknow Super Giants, playing against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL 2024 match on Wednesday night, hustled to 27/2 in the powerplay after taking the first batting position. They recovered, scoring 165/4 to indicate that they had played well on a difficult surface.
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head disproved those presumptions. The two continued to hunt even after the fielding limits were released, as they scorched LSG for 107 runs in just the first six overs. SRH took 45 minutes to chase the objective, which they reached in a quick 9.4 overs.
Under KL Rahul‘s leadership, LSG made its IPL debut in 2022 and advanced to the playoffs. Even though they were without Rahul for most of the season due to injury, LSG managed to finish in the top four last year, with Krunal Pandya leading the team in his place.
Matthew Hayden criticizes LSG’s cautious batting effort:
The batting great Matthew Hayden of Australia was not pleased with LSG’s strategy at the bat and ‘called them out’ for their poor scoring pace, particularly because they were playing a team that has been smashing batting records this season for fun.
“I have to call them (LSG) out. This is not five runs per over. Somebody needed to show intent. They had one of the slowest power plays. That took the inning nowhere. When the opposition team has Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen, your intention should be to go at 10s and over. 160–170 will never be enough,” Matthew Hayden said on commentary.
Sanjeev Goenka, the owner of LSG, was seen arguing angrily with skipper KL Rahul following the game, openly expressing his disappointment at his team’s devastating loss. In contrast, LSG is presently sixth in the rankings with 12 points from as many games.
The Pat Cummins-led squad improved their chances of making the playoffs, but LSG has to win their next two games to be in the running for a postseason berth.
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