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Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul on Friday said that he had no doubts about utilising spinners early on in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
With their second victory in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Lucknow moved to the top of the standings. Lucknow dominated SRH in all departments as Hyderabad just failed to put up a fight. Rahul revealed that he read the pitch on the eve of the game. "Yesterday (when did he know how the pitch would play?). We've been here for a couple of weeks now. Knew what we were getting into (nature of the pitch)," Rahul said in the post-match presentation. As Jaydev Unadkat's cutters were also gripping, the LSG captain said that using spinners in powerplay was always in his plans. "We saw in the first couple of overs: when Jaydev bowled a few cutters, they were gripping. Was a no-brainer to bowl spin early. I knew KP is better in the powerplay," he added. Rahul also praised the batting unit for adapting well to the situation, saying that the players had conversations to help each other out. "First instinct when I saw both pitches was that we'll need to bat smartly here. We've adapted well as a batting unit. Each person plays very differently. Just have been a couple of chats with the batting group to help each other out. Good to see the players are going there and putting in the practice," he said. Coming to the match, chasing a modest 122-run target Lucknow Super Giants got off to a quick start with skipper KL Rahul and Kyle Mayers capitalizing on every scoring opportunity coming their way. Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi brought Sunrisers back in the game dismissing Mayers for 13 from 14 balls as LSG lost their first wicket for 35. In the next over Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Deepak Hooda caught and bowled for 7 as the hosts lost their second wicket for 45 in six overs. Krunal Pandya walked into bat with his skipper Rahul and the duo took Lucknow's total beyond the 50-run mark in 6.2 overs. The Rahul-Krunal duo notched up a 50-run partnership in just 33 balls and LSG reached the 100-run mark in 12.1 overs. Just when it seemed that Lucknow would comfortably chase down the target Umran Malik broke the 55-run partnership between the two dismissing Krunal Pandya for 34 from 23 balls. With just 8 needed to win Adil Rashid gave a back-to-back blow to hosts Lucknow dismissing KL Rahul's leg-before wicket for 35 and dismissing Romario Shepherd for a golden duck to leave them struggling at 114/5. It turned out to be too little too late for Sunrisers Hyderabad as Nicholas Pooran went on to hit the winning run as Lucknow Super Giants registered their second win in three matches while Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their second consecutive match and are still in search of their first win this season. (ANI)
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