Lucknow Super Giants trumped Mumbai Indians for the second time in the season with skipper KL Rahul making another ton, his second against Mumbai this year. The eighth successive loss of the season sees Mumbai all but out of contention for a place in the playoffs this year.
Here we raise a few burning questions to dissect the match and the tactics used by the teams.
Why are Lucknow persisting with Manish Pandey in the XI?
Manish Pandey has totalled 88 runs in six innings this IPL while striking at a rate of 110. Batting at No 3, Manish comes in behind KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock and often has a set platform for him to build upon, something he has failed to do time and again. He has struggled against spinners and his dot ball percentage since 2020 is 37% overall. Given that Rahul is also an anchor in the top three, Manish is surplus to Lucknow's requirements, especially as they have Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni capable of filling up that slot.
Manish was dismissed by Kieron Pollard off a short ball last night after he struggled his way to 22 off 22 balls. Manish's stint delayed Marcus Stoinis's entry, who had a good chance of doing better against a pace-heavy bowling line-up. With Lucknow preferring to bat deep, they can replace Manish with Krishnappa Gowtham and aim to bring in Badoni, Stoinis or Hooda at No 3 based on game situations.
Have Mumbai Indians under-bowled Kieron Pollard?
Kieron Pollard's batting form has been questionable, but the West Indian all-rounder managed to take two wickets last night with some clever bowling in the middle overs. A tricky medium pacer on slow wickets, Mumbai haven't quite used Pollard enough in the last couple of seasons despite him doing reasonably well. In 2021, across 13 overs with the ball, Pollard took five wickets at an economy rate of 7.22. This year he has bowled nine overs at an economy rate of 8.6, a touch high, but still better than that of Basil Thampi, Tymal Mills, Daniel Sams and Jaydev Unadkat.
Pollard bowled 21 overs in 2020, going at over nine runs per over as Mumbai Indians won the title, but his bowling wasn't quite needed then. This season, especially with MI failing to identify their best spin bowler for the middle overs, it's useful to have Pollard chip in with his cutters every game.
Where can KL Rahul improve as a batter in T20s?
KL Rahul's batting template is pretty evident. He likes to settle down at the crease before going big and it's something that has worked out well for him in the past. In this game, he was on 29 off 30 balls and in his next 32 balls, Rahul went on to smash 74 unbeaten runs. Combining his two knocks against Mumbai Indians this year (103* and 103*), and splitting Rahul's returns across phases, we see his powerplay strike rate rests at 117.9. In the middle overs, he has been dominating, striking at a rate of 191 in these two matches. In the death, though, even with his range, Rahul sort of slows down a touch compared to some of the elite top-order batters who bat deep into the innings.
The strike rate is at 196 in these two matches, which is good, but it is still short of being elite. A top finisher or the likes of Jos Buttler or Faf du Plessis go at a rate well over 200 in the death if they are batting through. Given the time he takes to settle in at the start of the innings, Rahul should be aiming to finish stronger, something he's truly capable of. Him batting deeper into the innings would only be more valuable than a finisher walking in and teeing off if he can take that strike rate up even further.
Source: https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/sports-news/ipl-2022-where-can-kl-rahul-improve-as-batter-should-ishan-kishan-sit-out-burning-questions-from-lsg-vs-mi-clash-10594701.html
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