IPL 2023, LSG vs PBKS | Who said what ft. KL Rahul, Sikandar Raza
KL Rahul scored 74 runs from 56 balls against PBKS
|(IPL)
Sikandar Raza finally broke his rough patch with the bat against Lucknow Super Giants scoring 57 runs from 41 balls and a cameo from Shahrukh Khan at the end helped PBKS win by two wickets. KL Rahul played a fighting knock of 74 runs but could not help his side score a winning total.
Punjab Kings registered a two-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday in a low-scoring thriller. Sam Curran was the most effective bowler for PBKS, taking three wickets during his spell while Kagiso Rabada picked a couple of wickets. Sikandar Raza led the chase with a 57-run knock but departed back to the pavilion before being able to complete the chase. However, Shahrukh Khan ensured a smooth finish for the team with his cameo of unbeaten 23 runs from 10 balls.Ā
Sam Curran led the team as Shikhar Dhawan missed the game due to a niggle. Curran praised the playersā contributions for playing a crucial role in the victory.Ā
Amazing win. I thought our spinners bowled nicely. KG does what he does. Bit of dew came in but the wicket was offering a little for the bowlers. The way Sikandar Raza played was brilliant. And the way Shahrukh finished it, that's what he's in our team to do. His role has been clear in our side.
Raza earned a Player of the Match award for his fifty and admitted after the game that he felt great for playing such a crucial knock.Ā
Feels great to be honest. When I got out, there were a few demons in my head. Credit to Shahrukh. Nice to get a fifty but if we had lost, I wouldn't have felt so good. It's one of the biggest stage. You're here and you want to do well. I've had two average games which was there in my head.
Shahrukh Khan provided a solid finish for the PBKS securing a two-wicket win for them. Revealing his strategy, the batter stated that he tried to play the ball on its merit.Ā
Really feeling good, after the first innings,. it was important to play a par game (in the chase). Raza played superbly and set it up for me. My mindset was just to stay with the ball, the practice is working out to me. I'm powerful, cheeky shots don't work for me, so I try to hit straight and it's good to use my muscles. I just told Brar to go for the big hit since it was the last (5th) ball of the over, unfortunately he got out, but I was confident I could finish in the last over.
Losing captain KL Rahul admitted after the game that the team were behind the par score in the first innings and should have done well.Ā
We were about 10 short, the dew came in and helped the batters a bit more. We didnt do too well with the ball. (On what is a par score here) When your'e playing on a new pitch, you cant rely on previous games so we are taking it as it comes. Assessing it as it comes to think what would be a par total. If a few guys get going, we can get that 180-190 mark like Mayers and Pooran played well in that DC game, but unfortunately today a few batters got caught on the boundary lines. If they went over, the score could have been different.
Rahul was going through a poor form earlier and it was his maiden half-century in IPL 2023. Fielding coach Jhonty Rhodes backed the Indian batter saying that captaincy hasnāt affected his batting.
The captain is someone who likes to lead from the front. He has always been a successful dominating batter in all the IPLs. Captaincy isnāt something thatās ever plagued him because before many great batters when given captaincy donāt quite handle it. Heās led from the front and I think itās great to see that. We always knew that he was just one knock away. Heās been batting in the nets superbly. Heās not the kind of player anybody worries about because we always know itās literally one innings away.
