'There hasn't been a lot of good bowling,': LSG coach discusses the bat-heavy IPL 2024 season so far

In an electrifying IPL encounter between the Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals, the Royals emerged victorious by 7 wickets with a thrilling 6 balls to spare. Sanju Samson's blistering unbeaten 71* off 33 deliveries earned him the well-deserved Player of the Match accolade, steering his team to victory. Notable performances included KL Rahul's impressive 76 runs, Sandeep Sharma's bowling prowess with 2 wickets, and Deepak Hooda's dynamic 50-run contribution. Dhruv Jurel's composed unbeaten 52* further highlighted the Royals' strong batting display. The match, held at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow, provided fans with a gripping contest adorned with standout individual efforts and exciting twists until the final delivery.

Also Read: Dhruv Jurel marks his maiden IPL 50 in joyous family celebration-WATCH

 Lance Klusener opines on bat-dominated IPL 2024 so far

Lance Klusener, the assistant coach of Lucknow Super Giants, attributes the high team totals in the current Indian Premier League to the rapid development of batsmen. Teams are consistently surpassing 200 and even 250 runs, which Klusener believes is facilitated not only by the improved batting skills but also by the bowlers' struggles to contain runs during the final overs of the innings.

“Just looking at the bowling performances throughout the competition, for me, they have been quite disappointing. There hasn't been a lot of good bowling,” Klusener told the media after LSG’s seven-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals here on Saturday.

“There’s been a lot of ordinary bowling and batsmen are just so good these days, they're taking advantage. Maybe the batsmen have evolved a lot quicker than the bowlers in this competition.

“I haven't seen a lot of good death bowling in the competition and that's why teams have been able to take advantage. Sure, surfaces have been flat. I haven't seen a lot of swing either,” he added.

Klusener noted that bowlers are incorporating various strategies during the death overs but highlighted a deficiency in their utilization of wide yorkers.

“It's easy to overcomplicate. If you run in and execute even four out of six yorkers...we don't see that anymore. We don't see that skill,” he said.

“We’re going to slower balls and a whole lot of other variations. That pure death bowling of yorkers, whether it's wide or straight, that's a skill that we don't see very often these days,” he added.

Klusener said LSG will have to start putting performances together and they cannot continue to be good in one area and bad in the other.

“We're doing a lot of good stuff but in patches, and for us to get deeper into the competition come later on in the month, we're going to have to make sure that we're putting all those little things together,” he said.

“We can't just bat well and not bowl well or field. We need to make sure we put all that together. The good thing is we're in a great position — we’re the master of our own destiny for now.” “If someone had told us in the beginning of IPL (that) three quarters of the way through the competition you can still decide your own destiny, lots of teams would take that,” he added.

Klusener confirmed that pace sensation Mayank Yadav is ready to take the field very soon.

'Zulu' added that he was not a fan of the impact player rule in IPL.

“Personally, I'm not in favour. But I think it's been extremely effective. Just me personally, I like 11 on 11,” the said.

“But I think the way the entertainment has been provided, and a little bit of strategy on when and how to use it...I think it's worked excellently and they've been extremely successful,” Klusener noted.

Avesh Khan from the Rajasthan Royals emphasized the importance of enhancing their bowling performance in overs 6 to 16 as the team aims to maintain their position at the top of the IPL standings. Despite building pressure on Lucknow Super Giants during the powerplay, Rajasthan's bowlers struggled to sustain it, leading to a formidable 115-run partnership by KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda for the third wicket.

“We feel that we need to show further improvement in the phase of overs 6-16 as a bowling unit. We will discuss this in our team meeting,” he said. 

(With PTI input)