• By JE Sports Desk
  • Thu, 25 May 2023 02:39 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) superb run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 came to an end after their defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the eliminator clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.

LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir finally broke his silence after the embarrassing loss of 81 runs to the five-time champions in the all-important contest.

The former Indian batter suffered heavy criticism on social media after he was involved in a heated altercation with Virat Kohli earlier this season. He understandably was disappointed after his team's loss in the eliminator but also was hopeful at the same time for a probable strong comeback next year.

"Down but not defeated! Big thanks to the fans for showing immense love. We'll be back!," Gambhir wrote on Twitter, a day after the loss.

 

The Super Giants were lacking the big names in their setup and were dependent on a few players as they didn't have any player in the lists of top run-getters or top wicket-takers. They performed as a collective unit throughout the season, having different match winners at different stages of the tournament.

With the regular skipper KL Rahul already ruled out, LSG were clinical enough to manage a playoff spot towards the end of the league but needed their key players Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, and skipper Krunal Pandya to step up in order to knock Rohit Sharma's side out of the competition.

LSG now have two consecutive eliminator match losses to their name after making their IPL debut in 2022 when they were knocked out by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Chasing the challenging target of 183 never looked easy for LSG as they suffered three run-outs which caused Marcus Stoinis' 40-run innings to end up on the losing side.

With Lucknow already eliminated, Mumbai will now take o Gujarat Titans (GT) in the second qualifier game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, May 26.