LSG’s home form on the sluggish Lucknow pitch is a worry

Lucknow Super Giants are having a bad time at home in IPL 2023. Sportzpics

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) suffered their third successive home defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Monday but that fact was overshadowed by Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir’s on-field spat.

IPL 2023: Full coverage | Points table | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap​

Kohli and Gambhir were involved in a heated exchange after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated LSG by 18 runs at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium and it overshadowed Lucknow’s poor home record.

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KL Rahul-led side has suffered five defeats in nine games so far and three of them have come at home in five matches. LSG have won two away matches and lost two on the road. While a 50% win percentage away from home is a comfortable stat. A 60% loss percentage record at home is worrying.

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One of the major reasons for LSG’s home defeats have been the sluggish track at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.

The highest score in these three defeats have been 161/8 which Punjab Kings (PBKS) made in their two-wicket win. In that game, LSG made 159/8 batting first.

Gujarat Titans made 135/6 in the next game at Lucknow and LSG were restricted to 128/7 in a seven-run defeat.

Against RCB, LSG were bowled out for 108 chasing a target of 128.

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It’s difficult to believe that LSG are the same side that whacked 257/5 at the Mohali Stadium on Friday. The first time a team crossed 250 this season and also the second time in the history of IPL.

Lucknow’s sluggish track that has LSG batters in a spin has been a problem in international cricket as well.

Earlier this year, New Zealand were restricted to 99/8 in 20 overs at the same stadium by India. Hardik Pandya who captained India that day termed the pitch as a “shocker”. The curator was later sacked for offering such a slow track in an international game.

The best strategy in any tournament played in the home-and-away format is to maximise the home games and hope for crucial wins on the road to reach the knockouts.

In Lucknow Super Giants’ case, they haven’t been able to do that.

In Kyle Mayers, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda, LSG have batters who take the game to the opposition with their hard-hitting skills but KL Rahul has not been able to maximise their potential at home due to the slow nature of the track.

They have two more games at home. Two more defeats could prove to be super costly given that there’s no guarantee of a win in away games.

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