The pitch of Ekana in Lucknow has always been under question. Last season, runs started being scored here in many matches, but once again questions are being raised on this pitch. Now the head coach of the team Lucknow Super Giants, Justin Langer, has given a surprising statement. He has described the pitch of Ekana in Lucknow as like Waka in Perth.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have lost all three matches played so far on their home ground. It faced defeat here against Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans while on Wednesday Rajasthan Royals defeated it by 40 runs.
Last season also, LSG had lost six out of eight matches played here. In this way, it has won only nine out of 22 matches played on this ground.
Langer said in the press conference after the match, “The pitch here is very different from the pitches at other places in India. It is a great pitch for cricket. Here you get to see both pace and bounce. We have not been able to adjust to it yet. We are bowling well on this pitch, but our batsmen are not able to adjust to the extra pace and bounce that it provides. Our batsmen have been out on short pitch balls many times.”
Langer further said, “We have seen many such pitches in India where the ball does not bounce much, but this pitch is like the pitch of WACA. Here the ball gets good pace and bounce. Here you are getting to see really interesting cricket. Looking at our batting lineup, no one would have thought at the beginning of the season that our batsmen would not be able to find the rhythm. We had not even imagined this and that is why we are working hard on it. “
Despite the presence of strong batsmen like captain Rishabh Pant, Australia’s Mitchell Marsh, South Africa’s T20 captain Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, the LSG team is struggling to score competitive scores on their home ground. So far he has scored only 141 runs, 164 runs and 119 runs in three matches here.
