Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has lashed out at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul after the loss at the hands of Delhi Capitals (DC) in their IPL 2024 match on Tuesday. Kaif lambasted Rahul for opting to bowl on a batting first pitch, while also questioning the role of the video analysts. Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs slammed half-centuries as DC posted 208/4 after being invited to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In reply, LSG were restricted to 189/9, despite a half-century each from Nicholas Pooran and Arshad Khan.

While analysing the match, Kaif didn’t mince his words and criticised Rahul for opting to bowl on a pitch where teams batting second are yet to win a game this season.

“Take the video analyst’s computer and put it away. They didn’t go with any numbers. 200 has not been chased here at all. I am telling you this year’s numbers. In all four matches, the team batting first has won. You won the toss and said you would field first,” the former DC assistant coach said on Star Sports.

Kaif lavished praise on all-rounder Arshad Khan for salvaging some pride for LSG. Arshad hit 58 off just 33 balls to keep LSG in the hunt till the last over.

“If you leave aside Arshad Khan’s knock, it was a very bad defeat. Arshad saved your pride a little. I believe it was a horrible decision not to bat first here. KL Rahul disappointed a lot as a captain. You said you would play positive but you need to make positive decisions as well,” he added.

Kaif also pointed out how LSG squandered a golden opportunity to boost their playoffs hopes by making one mistake at the toss.

“You checked the pitch and felt that it had moisture. There was no moisture – 200 is scored here. The biggest mistake was the decision at the toss. After that, you allowed them to score 200 even after dismissing Jake Fraser-McGurk. So there will be a question mark on the bowling as well.

“Delhi will not gain anything from this. They got two points but their net run rate has not improved much. Lucknow had everything to gain from this match. They had to lose or gain. If they had won, they could have reached 16 points. I believe it was an absolute flop show from Lucknow,” Kaif went on to add.

LSG are all but out of the play-off race. They would first need to win their last match by a very big margin and then hope two of CSK, SRH and RCB lose their games by very big margins.