3 massive problems why LA Knight Riders failed to qualify in both MLC 2023 and 2024
Continuing with their poor run of form from the 2023 season, the Los Angeles Knight Riders failed to qualify for the playoffs of the ongoing 2024 season of the Major League Cricket tournament as well, and crashed out early.
In the final nail of their coffin in this tournament, LAKR were beaten by four wickets by MI New York at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, July 21 and knocked out of the reckoning for the playoffs.
At the time of writing, they are ranked in the fifth position of the league table with 5 points to their name, doing only slightly better from the sixth position they eked out for themselves in 2023.
In this listicle, we give you three reasons why LAKR failed to qualify for the playoffs in both seasons of the MLC.
#1 Poor bowling performances
One of the biggest reasons why LAKR failed to make the cut was the poor bowling performances that they put up from time to time.
They failed to bowl in areas that would have made their opponents uncomfortable and instead gave them the luxury to score as freely and comfortably as possible.
These performances took place over a period of time and they were not able to change the direction of the way the wind was blowing even after noticing the patterns that they had set.
In both these seasons, LAKR could not quite keep up with the challenges of restricting their opponents to low totals so that their batters could work their magic.
#2 Lack of cohesion in batting
It was often felt by the neutral spectator that there was an immense lack of cohesion in the batting order of the Knight Riders.
There did not seem to be a natural way of functioning in the batting lineup, and players would often be seen floating up and down without quite serving a particular purpose.
In the 2023 season, LAKR were bowled out for 112 and 50 in their first two games to ensure that they just did not have the fire needed to rise in the latter stages.
In the 2024 season, they breached the 150-run mark on just three occasions, and this, in turn, led to their downfall at the end of the tournament.
#3 Seniors' not taking enough responsibility
Another reason that will bug the management of LAKR at the end of both these seasons is that the seniors did not take up enough responsibility to guide their team through to the playoffs.
The form of skipper Sunil Narine with the bat in hand was particularly worrying in both seasons, along with the others - with enough experience in this format of the game - who were entrusted with the responsibility of guiding the team.
The management will be keen on making a clean break at the end of this season and hope to bring in a fresh batch of players who are keen to play for the badge of the franchise and give it their all on the field.