IPL 2026: The limit of excuses! Justin Langer’s strange argument on the plight of Lucknow – ‘The pitch lost the match’

New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer compared the Ekana pitch to Perth’s famous WACA pitch of yesteryear and admitted that his team has failed to adjust to the pace and bounce offered on it. LSG has lost all three matches played so far on its home ground. They faced defeats against Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans by six and seven wickets respectively while on Wednesday Rajasthan Royals defeated them 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. This is a great pitch for cricket. Here you get to see both speed and bounce. We have not been able to come to terms with it yet.

Players are not able to keep pace with the pitch – Langer

He said, “We had a good start. We are bowling well on this pitch but our batsmen are not able to keep pace with the extra pace and bounce it provides. Our batsmen were out many times on short pitch balls. Langer said, “We have seen many such pitches in India where the ball does not bounce much, but this pitch is like the WACA pitch. Here the ball gets good speed and bounce. You are getting to see really interesting cricket here.

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, 164 and 119 runs for eight wickets in three matches here. Langer said, “Our batsmen have not been able to find their rhythm yet. 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 their rhythm. We had not even imagined this and that is why we are working hard on it.

Justin Langer praised fast bowlers

He said, “Our bowlers have really performed brilliantly this year. I think both Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav are players who will play for India. I have no doubt about it.” Meanwhile, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who played an important role in the victory of Rajasthan Royals by taking one wicket besides scoring unbeaten 43 runs, said that this pitch is not an ideal pitch for T20.

Jadeja said, “It was not easy to score runs on this pitch. There was grass, a red clay wicket, so there was bounce too. I wouldn’t say it was an ideal wicket for T20. What I liked was that the wicket was the same for both the teams.