Lucknow Super Giants captain Krunal Pandya on Saturday lauded his side’s fighting spirit in its thrilling one-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders that took it to the IPL playoffs.
LSG’s regular skipper KL Rahul was ruled out of the tournament earlier this month after injuring his right thigh in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Krunal was handed the captaincy and he did an impressive job, leading the side into the playoffs.
“First reaction is satisfaction. We never gave up, we were put under a lot of pressure but credit to the boys,” he said at the post-match presentation.
“At one stage, they were 61/1 but I’ve seen it before that at this level 2-3 tight overs and we’re in the game. And there was some grip for the spinners as well.” Krunal was in awe of KKR left-handed batter Rinku Singh’s big-hitting abilities.
“Rinku has been special this year, every game when he’s there you can’t take it easy,” he said.
A disappointing KKR skipper Nitish Rana hopes to come back stronger next season after learning lessons from a disappointing outing this year. “The result wasn’t in our favour, but there are a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully we come back as a better team,” he said.
“You have to win back-to-back, and I feel bad since we had the ability finish games off.” Nitish too was full of praise about Rinku’s performance.
“Looks like I have spoken Rinku all 14 times that I have held the mic after a match! I really don’t have words to define him. If he can bat that way in that situation, then he can do anything,” he said.
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