Lucknow Super Giants Report Card for IPL 2022: Impressive on IPL debut

ByNishad Bapat, SportsCafe Editor

05/30/2022

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Lucknow Super Giants has impressed one and all on their debut season this edition making it to the last four of the points table. They were knocked out with a defeat against RCB in the Eliminator but will be known for making the playoffs with a brand new team built through the mega auction.

IPL 2022 got more exciting when two new teams were added to the roster. Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans were set to play their debut season. LSG chose KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi prior to the mega auction as their draft picks. KL Rahul was handed the leadership of the squad and they added some quality overseas players like Quinton de Kock and Jason Holder in the mega auction.

LSG won nine games in the league stage while losing five. After losing the first match versus GT, the team registered a hat-trick of wins. Then, they lost against RR but won against MI in next two games. The team then suffered a defeat against RCB and won four games on a trot after that. They suffered a dip in the form in the business end and won only one match in their last four tournament games.

Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, and Deepak Hooda scored a major share of runs for them while two pacers Avesh Khan and Mohsin Khan scalped regular wickets for the team. Overall, it was an impressive show by the franchise in its debut season but RCB outplayed them in the Eliminator knocking them out of the IPL 2022.

Batting - A

For LSG, openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock were the main contributors with the bat. Deepak Hooda also scored a lot of runs. All these three batters scored more than 450 runs and have an average above 30. However, the middle order lacked consistent run-scorers and stats show that none of them crossed the 200-run mark in the tournament. All these factors depict the over-reliance on the top three batters by LSG to post a decent total.

The team scored 2405 runs in the tournament which is the second-highest. LSG scored 163 runs per innings on an average and were third in the list of highest strike rates with 136.80. While Batting first, they scored 1369 runs from eight innings at an average of almost 171 runs per innings. They have a strike rate of 142.60 while batting first and winning seven matches out of eight.

Power Play - B

LSG were consistently scoring runs in the powerplay but the strike rate has been a concern for the team. They scored 628 runs in the powerplay throughout the tournament and are fifth in the team rankings for the highest runs. On average, LSG scored 41 runs per innings in the powerplay which highlights the cautious approach. Four teams PBKS, RR, DC and GT have hit more than 100 fours and sixes in total and LSG stands fifth with 93 sixes and fours in total.

Quinton de Kock scored 257 runs at 28.56 with a strike rate of 136.70 and is the second highest run-getter in the powerplay. The team played with a cautious approach in the powerplay, which badly affected their scoring rate.

Death Overs - A

LSG scored 704 runs in death overs which is the fourth-highest in the tournament and have the second-highest strike rate of 169.64 in death overs. LSG have almost scored 50 runs per innings in the final four overs which is an impressive number. They have hit 46 sixes in the slog overs and only RR have more number of maximums.

KL Rahul scored 141 runs from six innings in death overs for LSG at a strike rate of 190.54. Overall, death overs has been a fine passage of play for the team and they accelerated smoothly in the final four overs.

Bowling - B

LSG conceded 2496 runs in the IPL 2022 which is less than only RR. Although they might have leaked too many runs other stats portray a positive case. They have the second-most number of wickets (100) which depicts their wicket-taking ability. The team also enjoys a good economy rate of 8.48 and bowled the third-highest number of dot balls (698) in the tournament.

Avesh Khan was the leading wicket-taker for the team with 19 wickets from 13 innings.

Power Play - B

LSG conceded 735 runs in powerplay being the second team to leak most runs in the mentioned period. The economy is 8.17 which is again the second-most. They bowled 280 dot balls in the powerplay which is the only positive count for them in the powerplay period.

Avesh Khan was the highest wicket-taker for the team in the powerplay with seven wickets.

Death Overs - C+

LSG leaked most runs in the slog overs conceding 776 and was also the most expensive side at the back end of the game with an economy of 11.14. Further, they conceded a significant amount of fours and sixes (104) in the final four overs. The team have a poor set of stats while bowling in the final stages of the game.

The team was defending the target eight times in the tournament and won seven matches. Further, they won two matches against SRH and PBKS courtesy of a brilliant death bowling. In both these victories, the team conceded only 28 runs in the last four overs.

Captaincy - A

KL Rahul has been very familiar with the role of captaincy. He has captained Punjab Kings in the IPL and has also led the national team on a few occasions as well. Considering his captaincy experience, LSG picked him in the draft as an able captain and a consistent run-scorer. Rahul rotated his bowlers very well and used the variety of options he had smartly. Backing youngsters like Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan worked out very well and they were the finds of the tournament for the team. Also, he used the abundance of bowling options cleverly in the league stage. The team also entered the playoffs courtesy of his leadership and so he tuned out to be a brilliant skipper for the team,

Overall, Rahul’s leadership was good but he may have missed a trick by not slotting Deepak Hooda regularly at one down in the batting order during the first half of the tournament. Hooda scored 451 runs in IPL 2022 at 32.21 including four fifties. Also, with the skill set he brought with him, Mohsin Khan should have been given more opportunities from the start. He was impressive in his maiden season taking 14 wickets from nine matches. And if he had played more, he might have been more dangerous.