Krunal Pandya, who captained Lucknow Supergiants due to injury to Lokesh Rahul, said after their 18-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) here on Monday that his team could not execute the plan well. Chasing RCB’s target of 127 runs, Supergiants team leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/20), Josh Hazlewood (2/15) and Wanindu Hasaranga (1/20) scored 19.5 Got reduced to 108 runs in the over.
Only Krishnappa Gautam (23) was able to cross the 20-run mark from Supergiants. Earlier, leg-spinners Ravi Bishnoi (2/21) and Amit Mishra (2/21), off-spinner Gautam (1/10) and left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (21 without a wicket) combined. Gave only 73 runs in 13 overs and took five wickets, which helped RCB’s team to score 126 runs for nine wickets. Fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq also took three wickets for 30 runs. Captain Faf Duplesey (44) was the top scorer for RCB.
He added 62 runs for the first wicket with Virat Kohli (31) but after the break of this partnership, RCB’s innings faltered. Apart from these two, only Dinesh Karthik (16) reached double digits. Krunal said after the match, “We did very well in the first half by restricting them to low scores. It was a great team effort. Really happy with the way we bowled in this tournament. We would have easily conceded 126 runs at the start of the match. But we could not execute our plans.” On Rahul’s injury, he said, “It is sad. I think he has hurt his hip. I don’t know how bad it is. The medical team will assess it.
