DC vs LSG: "Sanjiv Goenka's team took an absolute drubbing.."- Graeme Smith's no-nonsense verdict on KL Rahul episode

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith has supported KL Rahul and bashed Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka for his poor conduct to the latter. 

Sanjiv Goenka was seen lashing out at LSG skipper KL Rahul after the Sunrisers Hyderabad registered a dominating victory by 10 wickets last night. Lucknow had set a 160+ target for the Orange army who were aiming to grab a win in front of home support at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium. SRH had arrived at this match after losing each of their previous game against Mumbai Indians.

What happened between KL Rahul and Sanjiv Goenka?

After winning the toss, KL Rahul decided to go on and bat first at the batting-friendly surface in Hyderabad. But that decision did not prove to be the best of decisions as the visitors had got off to a very poor start. Quinton de Kock, who staged his return to the game, departed for a score of just 2 runs off Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. 

A lot of credit of de Kock's wicket should go to Nitish Kumar Reddy who pulled off a sensational catch near the boundary ropes. 2 overs later, Marcus Stoinis became Bhuvi's second scalp of the night for a score of 3.

Then after putting 57 runs on the board, Kl Rahul received his marching orders from opposing captain Pat Cummins. Rahul could not work his magic against his former IPL team as he got out after a very poor knock of 29 off 33 with only 1 six and a four each. 

Krunal Pandya was then run out by Cummins and LSG was reduced to 4 wickets for just 66 after 11.2 overs. Number 5 and 6 batters - Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni then had the onus of scoring runs. The duo stitched a 99-run partnership for the 5th wicket and helped LSG put 166 as the target. 

The target might have looked tricky for SRH against a decent LSG bowling line-up but Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma did what they've been doing all this season. 

Head and Abhishek rattled the LSG fans, bowlers as well as owners by finishing off the game within 9.4 overs. The Australian smacked 89 off 30 (at 296) while the uncapped Indian batter amassed 75 off 28 (267). Both Head and Sharma had smacked 8 fours and 8 sixes each. 

With all the LSG fans and players returning with sad faces following the humiliating loss, their owner Sanjiv Goenka was furious. Goenka was seen scolding and saying things in anger to KL Rahul, who was obviously shattered due to the loss. 

The visuals of the conversation between Goenka and KL Rahul are currently trending on X and many expert pundits have criticized the former for his behavior. 

What did Graeme Smith say? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema after the match, Graeme Smith was not fond of Sanjiv Goenka's aggressive behavior towards KL Rahul. Smith stated that Goenka should not have reprimanded Rahul on the field with so many cameras on focus. Goenka should have instead done this behind closed doors. 

Pathetic Behaviour by team owners of #LSG You don't have bloddy rights to do that shit in front of live telecast #KLRAHUL You deserve to be in a beast franchise
Shame on you Mr Goenka pic.twitter.com/WGDykgAWtq

— Thanos (@father_of_demon) May 9, 2024

"It's the owner who is very passionate about his team. His team has taken an absolute drubbing, and the emotions have rolled over. You feel these conversations should be happening behind closed doors. There are so many cameras around; they're not missing anything."

"KL Rahul would now go to press conferences and other things and potentially explain what's been discussed." - Graeme Smith said via Jio Cinema.