Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina believes that Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have the resources to play the remainder of IPL 2023 season without skipper KL Rahul.
The LSG captain got injured during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and is ruled out of the league. Krunal Pandya has been selected as the tournament’s stand-in captain for the duration of the competition.
Raina has been impressed with Krunal’s leadership of the team in Rahul’s absence. He believes that with strong players like Quinton de Kock available, Lucknow should not worry about the possibilities that they do not now have.
In a media interaction arranged by Jio Cinema, Suresh Raina, who is also an IPL expert, explained how LSG need to focus on the final few games of the league stage to ensure qualification.
“Rahul’s injury has been unfortunate, but I was impressed with Krunal Pandya’s captaincy and with the way he rotated his bowlers,” Raina said. “Rahul’s absence will be tricky but I think they need not worry as they have other players like De Kock, Mayers, Badoni, Krunal etc.
“When it comes to the playoffs, it’s about playing the situation and that will be on their minds.”
Suresh Raina backs Rohit Sharma to come good with the bat
Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma has had a rough start to the IPL 2023 season, failing to register a single run in his past two appearances. Suresh Raina, on the other hand, feels the explosive right-hander will ultimately come good and that Mumbai needs him to fire in their next few league games.
Raina stated:
“I think Rohit had lead the team really well. He is just missing a death bowler, someone like Jasprit Bumrah. He hasn’t done well with the bat of late but if MI beat RCB tomorrow then they could get into the playoffs spots.
“He will need to raise his game as it is an important phase of the tournament. But I feel class is permanent and he will find form soon. I don’t think MI or their fans will be worried about his form as it is just a matter of getting 1-2 good scores under his belt.”