IPL 2022: By proving they are not a one-man army, Lucknow Super Giants are catching up with Gujarat and Rajasthan – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

A marker has been laid down. Gujarat Titans got to it first. Seven wins and different heroes putting their hands up as they shot up to the top of the points table. Rajasthan Royals matched it, through Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal. But in their last win, the Royals had to break that monotony and get into winning ways without the duo making a sizeable contribution.

In a league format, especially a volatile one like the Indian Premier League, one or two players can never win you the tournament. Ask Virat Kohli, for he only knows it too well from the 2016 season. 973 runs weren’t good enough to get Royal Challengers Bangalore that elusive crown, and there isn’t a bigger example of the importance for a team to find a consistent, winning run leading to the knockouts.

Lucknow Super Giants players celebrate their win over Punjab Kings. Image: Sportzpics

For much of this season, Lucknow Super Giants has kept pace with both Gujarat and Rajasthan. As the 2022 IPL crossed the halfway mark, it was imperative for Lucknow to match that two pace-for-pace, especially after their wins in the past week. Punjab Kings thus provided ample opportunity to the Super Giants on Friday night.

Let it be said here first, Mayank Agarwal’s team is in disarray. Even after half the season is done, Punjab don’t know what their best eleven is. They tried to fix what wasn’t broken when Jonny Bairstow came out to play, and since then haven’t been able to build any winning momentum. Now, by picking every hard-hitting batsman available to them, things have been further complicated.

Liam Livingstone, their most in-form batsman, is relegated to number five. Just how do you do all this? Bhanuka Rajapaksa has made way, both in the playing eleven and batting order to accommodate Bairstow, who isn’t in any good form. How can the team management explain this fallacy? KL Rahul left Punjab in a huff after a meddlesome time with coach Anil Kumble, and you can see why Agarwal’s captaincy stint has begun on a similar note.

To their credit somewhat, Punjab did manage to do what Mumbai Indians failed to do twice. Get Rahul out cheaply and Lucknow will struggle, that is the formula going around in the IPL circles. Dismissed for just six runs, Lucknow had to rely on other batsmen to come good. Quinton de Kock looked like he could find some form, but the key move herein was promoting Deepak Hooda to number three.

Read: Five burning questions from the PBKS vs LSG clash

A key reason why the reliance on Rahul has grown for Lucknow is because of poor form from both Evin Lewis and Manish Pandey. In 10 innings, the latter duo has together scored 159 runs, and that is not a good enough yield for top-four batsmen in a T20 league like this. Of course, Rahul’s own form is independent of theirs, but it does impact his batting style knowing the following batsmen are not in good touch. If there were sizeable contributions from de Kock, Pandey and/or Lewis, we would get to see an even more free-flowing Rahul on display. That bit is yet to happen for Lucknow.

They have tried experimenting with Jason Holder and Marcus Stoinis and failed to find a solution. Finding an apt batting spot for Stoinis is proving to be so very bothersome – he comes in too late at numbers seven or eight, and too early for three or four. Slotted in the middle for the last two innings, Stoinis has scored 1 run off six balls – not the kind of return Lucknow would have liked after investing INR 9 crore in him.

This is why Hooda’s elevation makes sense. He has the experience to bat in dual gears at that position, albeit he wasn’t able to press the acceleration button on Friday. There could have been a case for young Ayush Badoni to be promoted up top, but the team management sees him primarily as a finisher. Lucknow’s batting is still a work in progress even at this late stage in the tournament, and that is their one big fallacy.

The bowling, meanwhile, has come together in fine fettle. Dushmantha Chameera is proving to be a more thoughtful buy than Stoinis in that regard. His control and variation of pace are impeccable, whether at the start or in the middle. Add to it, Avesh Khan and Mohsin Khan coming together, along with Holder’s experience, and Lucknow has progressed to the pace-first formula adopted by Gujarat and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In the midst of it all, Krunal Pandya is holding his own. When he left the Mumbai Indians’ proverbial nest, nobody knew what to expect. That ecosystem provides for you to succeed, and the elder Pandya flourished in the company of his brother as well. A move away was always envisaged, but settling into a new team, that too as its lead spinner was never a role that Krunal was meant to perform.

Truth be told, this role hasn’t come to him by design. Coming from Punjab, Rahul brought Ravi Bishnoi along with him, and Lucknow have seemingly invested in the future of the young leggie. But he has hit an odd patch, wherein his stock googly is now easy fodder for batsmen. There is a need for Bishnoi to grow beyond the wrong one, perhaps alter his pace, and add more variations, before he can start threatening batsmen again. Even so, Pandya has done well enough to build himself up in this vacant space.

Across the last four games, Pandya has sent down 14 overs at an economy of only 5.36, picking up six wickets at an average of 12.5. He has always been one to bowl within himself, stick to a particular line and doesn’t stray from it much. Yet, the rigours of an extended run in white-ball cricket meant that Pandya needed to grow his bowling skill-set, and he worked on imparting more spin along with pace variation. This latter facet seems to have worked for him, and is something that Bishnoi needs to pick up soon enough.

Victory over Punjab came much in the manner Rajasthan beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game, without relying on their top batsman. It also means that mathematically Lucknow are one win away from confirming a knockout spot in their inaugural season. Keeping pace with Gujarat and Rajasthan then, matching them in style and manner of wins, the three teams together are setting up a new thrilling order in the Indian Premier League.

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