Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) made some noticeable changes to their lineup for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 Eliminator against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Chennai on Wednesday (May 24), with the Krunal Pandya-led side decided not to go with aggressive opener Quinton de Kock for the important fixture.
Lucknow, who were invited to bat first by Mumbai in the final game of the season at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, started with only three overseas players in their XI, with Kyle Mayers named in the Impact Substitutes list.
With de Kock not playing, West Indian middle-order batter Nicholas Pooran was given the wicket keeping duties. In the end, LSG faced defeat by 81 runs in the Eliminator match against MI. They were bundled out for 101 runs in the 17th over while chasing 183 runs on a slow pitch in Chennai. The last time LSG played at Chepauk, Mayers struck a thunderous 50, but he could not match that performance this time and was dismissed by Chris Jordan for 18 from 13 balls in the fourth over.
After the 81-run loss, LSG’s skipper Pandya explained in the post-match presentation why Lucknow dropped ‘world-class batter’ De Kock from the playing eleven.
“It’s always a tough decision. Quinton de Kock is a quality player. I mean he’s a world-class batter. But it’s just Kyle [Mayers] had a better record over here [in Chennai]. We just felt we can go with Kyle,” Pandya told the broadcasters.
De Kock is one of the best T20 players in the world, but he warmed a bench for the first half of the season because of Mayers’ top performances. He finally got a chance to play when KL Rahul got injured. De Kock did a decent job with a bat and scored 143 runs in those four matches with a strike rate 140.
LSG have been eliminated from IPL 2023 after the loss against MI. Meanwhile, MI will head to Ahmedabad and take on Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2.
