Sanjay Manjarekar blasts Lucknow’s Indian core players for defeat against Chennai in the Indian T20 League 2023

Against Chennai in the most recent game, Lucknow sustained their first loss of the campaign. They ultimately fell just 12 runs short of the lofty 218 total kept in front of them. However, the Lucknow team got the run pursuit off to a flying start. Kyle Mayers, a West Indies player, was in devastating form as he destroyed the Chennai bowling attack, scoring 54 runs off just 22 deliveries and assisting the Super Giants in amassing 75 runs in the first five overs.

His companion, KL Rahul, took a back seat to him and was primarily responsible for rotating the strike. Sanjay Manjrekar, a former India player, believes the LSG skipper could have battled himself as well rather than retreating into a shell. Following Mayers’ dismissal in the sixth over, Rahul struggled to capitalise on his opportunity and left for 20 runs off of 18 balls, a performance that was far from optimal in a 218-run chase. Manjrekar also cited the Lucknow captain as the cause of his sluggish hitting.

Sanjay Manjarekar slams KL Rahul for a poor strike rate and not capitalizing on the starts

Sanjay Manjarekar spoke to ESPNCricinfo about the match and how the skipper of Lucknow should have attacked when needed. He said, “When Kyle Mayers batted with a strike rate of 240, KL Rahul went into a shell. Once Mayers got out, Rahul realized he had to go for the big shots and was dismissed at a strike rate of just 111.”

Manjarekar said that Rahul shouldn’t have slowed down while his partner was striking in an aggressive mode. He added, “It’s very difficult to suddenly be explosive when you’re already playing in one gear. You need to play every ball on its merit and just because the opening partner is going hard, doesn’t mean you should slow down.”

The Lucknow franchise would now gear up to face the challenge of Hyderabad at the Ekana Stadium on Friday in a must win game for both the teams in the Indian T20 League 2023.