Cricket is a sport of great uncertainties; you win some, & you lose some. Try telling this to an IPL franchise owner, whose team underwent one of the worst losses in IPL history, where first the batsmen failed miserably to score, and then the bowlers could only hold the fort for 9.4 overs. That is exactly what happened in the match between SRH and LSG on Wednesday, in Hyderabad, where the visitors had no clue, as to what went wrong with them.
But the carnage just did not end there. LSG skipper KL Rahul was on the receiving end from the team owner Sanjiv Goenka, who perhaps reprimanded the latter, or just had an overtly animated chat after the match. In either case, it was just a little too much caught on the camera.
SRH vs LSG, As it Happened
After opting to bat first, Lucknow team struggled big time to get going. The pitch looked sluggish, and the batters could not get boundaries in the powerplay. In a poor display of batting, LSG could only score 27/2 in six overs. Rahul scored 29 from 33, while Quinton de Kock failed. It was only Nicholas Pooran (48 from 26) and Ayush Badoni (55 from 30), who took the team to a respectable total.
But the second innings was a complete turnaround. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went bonkers, and scored 107 in the powerplay itself. They achieved the target in only 9.4 overs and 62 deliveries to spare, giving a jolt to LSG, where it would be difficult for them to make a comeback in IPL 2024.
Game Over for KL Rahul & LSG?
Winning and losing might be part of the game, but visibly there was something disastrously wrong with LSG against SRH. The bowlers couldn’t bowl, and the batter couldn’t bat. In between, the skipper couldn’t lead from the front. But does that really give the license to the owner to display such reactions with cameras around? Of course, a lot of money is invested, but these players earning million bucks, can make errors too.
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If one was to read between the lines, this conversation between LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka and KL Rahul might just have some repercussions. No one knows what, but the team owner is already being called out on social media for his behaviour. But owners hardly care about these things, and for all you know, the current skipper might be demoted, or not retained for next year, before the mega auction.
MS Dhoni vs Goenkas
If history is to go by..MS Dhoni was also sacked unceremoniously as the captain of Rising Pune Supergiant by the same owners on account of non-performance. In 2016, the team finished second last, and at the start of the 2017 season Steve Smith was made the captain. Back then, many publications reported Sanjiv Goenka as saying, that the team wanted someone young and fit as the leader of the team.
Such was the situation that even Sakshi Dhoni had jumped into defend her husband on X. While there were no confirmed reports of the same, but a few publications suggested that the Pune management wasn’t happy with Dhoni’s behaviour. It was claimed that the latter would miss team meetings, and was not available on phone. He also allegedly missed net sessions.
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