Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer praised his bowlers’ efforts against Mumbai Indians (MI), adding that losing a nail-biter to Delhi Capitals earlier in the season helped his team hold its nerve during Friday’s Indian Premier League 2025 contest at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
MI was par for course at 143 for three in the 204-run chase with Suryakumar Yadav batting on 61 runs in the company of Tilak Varma. But Avesh Khan, Shardul Thakur and Ravi Bishnoi strangulated the scoring rate in the death overs and ensured the visiting side fell 12 runs short.
“I thought Shardul Thakur’s second-last over [in which he conceded just seven runs] was outstanding. That really kept us [in the game]. And then obviously Avesh Khan, that’s one of the things that he prides himself on – bowling those tight overs. Digvesh [Rathi] bowled very well. I thought [Ravi] Bishnoi started to come back into his own, which is really important for us in the tournament.
“And the other thing is we had the experience in game one against DC, where we were on top of the game for a lot of it and gave it up. So, hopefully, that tough experience in the first game helped our guys stay calm in this game against a very good Mumbai team,” Langer said after the match.
LSG’s pacers coming good in crunch moments seemed unlikely at the start of the season when multiple names were missing due to injuries.
Avesh missed the first match against the Capitals but joined the side in its second game. Akash Deep was cleared to take part and started his stint with LSG against MI. Langer’s unit will be back to full strength with the return of pace sensation Mayank Yadav, who is recovering from a back injury.
“He’s working very hard at the NCA and I saw some video of him bowling yesterday and he was bowling at about 90 to 95% [intensity]. So, Mayank’s up and running, which is really great for Indian cricket and the IPL. We saw the impact he had last year. I don’t think there’s been a bowler in India who’s bowled faster than him.
“The NCA, to their credit, have obviously done a very good job because they’ve got Avesh Khan back for us. They’ve got Akash Deep back for us. So we really appreciate the work they’re doing to get the boys back playing,” Langer said.
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The build-up to Friday’s contest revolved around the pitch at the Ekana Cricket Stadium after Zaheer Khan, the side’s mentor, attributed the loss to Punjab Kings to a playing strip that did not suit LSG’s strengths.
But Langer insisted that playing to its potential can win LSG games irrespective of the nature of the wicket.
“To be completely honest, I think both pitches here have been excellent for the last two years. I thought that there was probably a little bit of emotion after the last game. My entire time as the coach, I’ve really enjoyed playing here. It’s nice to have a little bit of variation, but there’s only a tiny bit of variation in how the two pitches play. So I think the less we talk about pictures, the better. We’ve got to just play good cricket,” Langer said.
The only setback for LSG came in Rishabh Pant’s lean run of performances continuing. The captain could contribute just two runs and was nabbed by his MI counterpart with an off-cutter. The team’s most expensive pick from the mega auction has scored just 19 runs in four innings. However, Langer reposed his faith in the wicketkeeper-batter to come good and deliver as the tournament progresses.
“He’ll be fine, don’t worry about Rishabh. I’ve got one job and that’s to keep him smiling. When you come into a new franchise, very often you try too hard. He’s the captain of the team, there’s high expectation and with that often comes pressure that no one or none of us understand. So we’ll stay with him. We will keep him smiling, keep him relaxed, and when he comes; we’ve won 50% of our games so far and Rishabh has not made many runs yet. Imagine when he starts making runs. I cannot wait to see that,” Langer said.