"I think KL Rahul was a massive miss for LSG" - Tom Moody reflects on LSG's batting collapse against MI in IPL 2023
Former Australian player Tom Moody opined that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) missed the stability that KL Rahul offered with his presence in the batting unit. LSG's 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign came to an end after a 81-run loss to the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Eliminator at the Chepauk Stadium on Wednesday, May 24.
Rahul's season was halted due to a severe injury that he sustained while fielding against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Lucknow. The LSG skipper was ruled out of the remainder of the season as well as the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
In his absence, Krunal Pandya led the franchise and helped them finish fourth this season.
Stating that KL Rahul would have been among the runs had he not been injured midway through IPL 2023, Tom Moody said on ESPN Cricinfo:
"I think KL Rahul was a massive miss for LSG. This is the second time they have reached the playoffs so that in itself is a great achievement for a new team. I think even though at the point that KL Rahul injured himself, you can just about guarantee that he would have scored three if not more half-centuries in the rest of the games and that was missing."
Moody further emphasizing that the bulk of runs Rahul would have offered would have been a huge asset irrespective of his shaky strike rate record.
"KL Rahul in that batting lineup is a different story, it is a completely different look," he added. "I felt that he was a big loss, just around the stability that he provides as a top-order player.
"Yes, there are times that he is criticized for not striking at the rate that we all feel that he should, but there are other times that he does. It's the volume of runs that was missing."
LSG's top order took a massive hit in the absence of their skipper. The likes of Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Quinton de Kock, Prerak Mankad, and Karan Sharma were all tried and tested, but failed to impress.
"LSG should be applauded for the fact that they played on a pitch which was completely unsuitable to the batting lineup" - Sanjay Manjrekar
LSG's batting unit struggled on slow wickets over the course of the season, which included their home venue as well. The franchise relatively thrived on good batting surfaces like Mohali and Bangalore to secure wins, but finished with a poor home record.
Their fragility on sluggish wickets, especially in the batting unit was exposed as they were bowled out for 101 while chasing at Chepauk.
Applauding LSG for making it to the playoffs despite a mismatch between their batting unit and slow pitches, Sanjay Manjrekar said during the same interaction:
"KL Rahul is somebody that we have seen in the IPL forever, he plays well but his team does not do well. LSG should be applauded for the fact that they played on a pitch that was completely unsuitable to the batting lineup, which relied so heavily on Kyle Mayers, de Kock, Stoinis and Pooran. Despite that, they made it to the playoffs."
Reflecting on the franchise's over-reliance on overseas batters, Manjrekar added:
"When you rely on foreign batters, and you get a pitch like Chepauk, they need to find at least a couple of big game-changers with the bat and not have their fulcrum of the batting being foreign batters."
Australia's Marcus Stoinis emerged as the franchise's leading run scorer of the season, amassing 408 runs in 15 matches. Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran were also among the runs over the course of IPL 2023.
However, Indian batters like Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni did not have the best of campaigns with the bat.