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‘Lost 3 wickets in 7 balls…’ Coach Lara furious with SRH batters after poor show vs LSG in IPL 2023
SRH head coach Brian Lara did not seem pleased with the performance of his batters, who have failed to get going.
The Lucknow pitch for the IPL 2023 match between Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad was not ideal for strokeplay. The occasional ball was stopping, there was enough turn on offer to keep the spinners interested. But it was not unplayable, certainly not the way the SRH batters made it appear. SRH lost the wickets of Anmolpreet Singh, captain Aiden Markram and Harry Brook in the space of just seven balls in the eighth and ninth overs to slide to 55 for four, and could never recover from the shock and slumped to their second consecutive defeat game in the 16t edition of the tournament.
Batting first, SRH laboured their way to 121, which LSG chased down in just 16 overs proving that it was not impossible score. SRH head coach Brian Lara did not seem pleased with the performance of his batters, who have failed to get going.
"I think we are losing a lot of wickets in clumps. In the first game we lost two wickets in the first over. Tonight (Friday), we lost three wickets in seven balls which changed the complexion of the game. So, we definitely have to look at our batting and come up with a solution for it," said the West Indian great during the post-match press conference.
LSG left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya caused mayhem at the top, removing opener Anmolpreet, Mayank Agarwal and Markram to emerge as the most successful bowler for the winners with figures of 3 for 18.
Lara also said the wicket wasn't conducive for strokeplay, which contributed to his batters not being able to set a par score.
"I think, obviously, today we didn't play on a pitch that was conducive to proper strokeplay. Not using that as an excuse, but I think that we definitely have to improve in our batting."
The coach, however, defended the decision to bat first as he thought the pitch would deteriorate in the second innings, which would make the task for his slow bowlers to attack easier.
But, Lara didn't figure out his fragile batting lineup, which is one of the weakest among the 10 teams in the fray.
"I think the pitch was always going to be a turner. We felt that if we got the better part of the pitch, it would be rewarding for us. It was going to deteriorate. We also felt there wasn't much dew on the ground. I thought that there was nothing to worry about."
He said a total in the vicinity of 150-160 would be par for the course, but unfortunately, his batters couldn't achieve the target.
"I think a total of 150-160, you would have seen a different story. As I said, we lost three wickets in seven balls, and that sort of stopped our progress. We weren't going very quickly but we already decided that a total of 140 to 160 would be something that we would be happy with.
