Former cricketer Mohammad Kaif vehemently criticized Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahuls captaincy following his teams loss to the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2024 match in Delhi on Tuesday May 14. The visitors suffered a 19run defeat virtually bringing their playoff prospects to a close.
DC set LSG a goal of 209 runs after being asked to bat first. The hosts then limited KL Rahul and his team to 189/9 to finish the league campaign on top.
On Star Sports, Kaif criticized Rahul’s captaincy, specifically his choice to field first.
“Take the video analyst’s computer and put it away. They didn’t go with any numbers. 200 has not been chased here at all. I am telling you this year’s numbers. In all four matches, the team batting first has won. You won the toss and said you would field first.”
“If you leave aside Arshad Khan’s knock, it was a very bad defeat. Arshad saved your pride a little. I believe it was a horrible decision not to bat first here. KL Rahul disappointed a lot as a captain. You said you would play positive but you need to make positive decisions as well.”
Mohammad Kaif
In IPL 2024, teams that bat first have won all five games, including the DC-LSG match, at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. The club batting second has consistently fallen short of 200-plus totals.
“You allowed them to score 200 even after dismissing Jake Fraser-McGurk” – Mohammad Kaif on LSG’s bowling
Mohammad Kaif also questioned the Lucknow Super Giants’ bowling for enabling the Delhi Capitals to reach such a high score despite losing Jake Fraser-McGurk for a duck.
“You checked the pitch and felt that it had moisture. There was no moisture – 200 is scored here. The biggest mistake was the decision at the toss. After that, you allowed them to score 200 even after dismissing Jake Fraser-McGurk. So there will be a question mark on the bowling as well.”
Mohammad Kaif
The cricketer-turned-commentator lamented that LSG squandered a golden opportunity to solidify their playoff standing.
“Delhi will not gain anything from this. They got two points but their net run rate has not improved much. Lucknow had everything to gain from this match. They had to lose or gain. If they had won, they could have reached 16 points. I believe it was an absolute flop show from Lucknow.”
Mohammad Kaif
LSG stands at seventh place on the points table with 12 points from 13 fixtures and a net run rate of 0.787. Even if Lucknow achieves a substantial victory in their last league encounter against the Mumbai Indians (MI) they will depend on a chain of highly unlikely results to advance to the playoffs.