'They shot themselves in the foot by dropping De Kock': Sehwag on LSG's tactics after Eliminator loss
IPL 2023: Virender Sehwag stunned by LSG's tactics after Eliminator loss to MI (Photo | IPL/BCCI).
On Wednesday (May 24), the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lost to five-time winners Mumbai Indians (MI) by a whopping 81-run margin in IPL 2023's Eliminator as Rohit Sharma & Co. proceeded to Qualifier 2, where they will face defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) on Friday (May 26). Krunal Pandya-led LSG stunned one and all by dropping star opener Quinton de Kock as they preferred Kyle Mayers in the playing XI.
After LSG's second successive loss in the Eliminator, they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022's knockout tie, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag slammed the Andy Flower-led team management's tactics and said 'they shot themselves in the foot' by dropping de Kock. While talking to Cricbuzz, Sehwag said, "Even I have a good record in Chennai as I hit 319. But it doesn't mean that even today I will go out there and score. The current form also matters and I feel Lucknow shot themselves in their own foot (by dropping De Kock)."
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KRUNAL PANDYA DEFENDS DE KOCK's OMISSION
At the post-match presentation, stand-in captain Krunal said, "It's always a tough decision to drop Quinton, he is a world-class batter, Kyle had a good record here so we thought of playing him for today. Their batters played the fast bowlers pretty well so I just thought we could do something new [on starting with the spinners]."
In their second season, Lucknow managed to enter the playoffs as the third-ranked side but once again failed to clear the Eliminator round. Being asked to bowl first, LSG rode on Naveen-ul-Haq's four-fer and Yash Thakur's 3 for 34 as MI made 182-8 riding on contributions from Cameron Green (41), Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Nehal Wadhera's 12-ball 23*.
In reply, LSG only managed a paltry 101 in 16.3 overs with Akash Madhwal returning with 5 for 5 in 3.3 overs. Now, MI will face defending champions GT in Qualifier 2, on Friday, to book a place in the final. MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have already qualified for the summit clash, to be held in Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 28).