IPL 2023: LSG captain Krunal Pandya says why he took Quinton de Kock out of the playing XI for the Eliminator match

Lucknow Super Giants’ run in the IPL 2023 ended on May 24 when they lost to Mumbai Indians in the eliminator and were kicked out of the league. LSG lost by 81 runs as a result of the Rohit Sharma-led team preventing them from achieving their target of 183 in 16.3 overs. LSG changed their starting group for a big game and put Quinton de Kock on the bench, which was a risky move.

In de Kock’s place, LSG brought back Kyle Mayers into the lineup, as the Windies hitter was a key player in the second half of the game. Mayers hit a powerful 50 the last time LSG played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, but he wasn’t able to do that again, and Chris Jordan got him out after 13 balls for 18 runs in the fourth over.

After Mayers was out, Lucknow’s score dropped to 23/2, and they were in trouble. However, captain Krunal Pandya and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis brought things back under control. Prior to Piyush Chawla taking out Pandya in the ninth over, they scored 46 runs together for the third wicket.

After Pandya was out, Lucknow’s last seven batters only got 42 runs, so the game was over with 21 balls to go. During the post-game press conference, Pandya was asked about the surprising choice to sit out de Kock.

“Quinton de Kock is a good batter, but Kyle Mayers has a better track record at Chepauk, so we put him ahead of him in the playing XI.”

When talking about Lucknow’s performance this year, Quinton de Kock didn’t join the starting team until KL Rahul had to drop out of the race because he hurt himself. The wicketkeeper then put Mayers in to bat first. Because Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis seemed like good middle-order batters, the team had to rely on Indian quicks, but this didn’t work out well for them.

The team then took Mayers out of the XI but put him back in for the important Eliminator, which didn’t make much of a difference, so that they could add a foreign pacer.