IPL 2022: Having Good And Powerful Players In The Lower Middle Order Is Really Important - LSG Skipper KL Rahul
Ahead of the IPL 2022 season, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper, KL Rahul, elaborated on what is required for a franchise to be successful. He particularly stressed the need to have power-hitters in the lower-order who can function as finishers.
LSG will be playing for the first time in the league and they will be hoping to get off to a good start. They face fellow newcomers, Gujarat Titans (GT) in their opening game. Speaking about the composition of the team with Sports Tak, Rahul said:
“As far as the end numbers are concerned, I’d be happy if I can do the same thing as the last 3-4 seasons. But this is one of my learnings as a leader; having good and powerful players in the lower-middle order is really important for the team to be successful in the long run.
“That is why we have picked the likes of Stoinis, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, and Deepak Hooda in the middle order.”
Rahul has been brilliant at the top of the order for Punjab Kings (PBKS) but the lack of a lower-order hitter has held him back. This time around, it is unlikely to be the case.
“When your middle and lower-middle order is strong, it will give freedom to the openers to be aggressive in the first six. So yes, I play that role and I’ll try to capitalize on the powerplay and get the team off to a good start.”
“But at the same time, I’ve been a player who always tries to play the situation. I don’t confine myself to a single role. If you need 130-140 runs to win, what’s the point of playing at a strike rate of 200?” he further added.
Lucknow Super Giants squad for IPL 2022:
KL Rahul (c), Ravi Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Jason Holder, Manish Pandey, Quinton de Kock (wk), Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav.
