IPL 2022, LSG vs RR: "Stoinis is one of those players who has brute force" - KL Rahul

It was not the ideal outing that new side Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) would have wanted against former champion Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 63 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, LSG suffered a 24-run defeat, as it missed out on sealing its playoffs berth. Although LSG is not out of the playoffs race, it made things tricky for it, as it is now in a tight race for the same, besides struggling for a top-two finish. However, despite the loss, LSG skipper KL Rahul was all-praise for Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Ayush Badoni for putting on a show with the bat.

After the defeat, Rahul said during the post-match press conference, "He [Badoni] has been batting well. We felt like we could have used him slightly differently in the last four-five games, so we tried playing him top of the order."

FULL SCORECARD: IPL 2022 - LSG vs RR (Match 63)

As for Stoinis, Rahul reckoned, "What we're trying to do is utilise players who will best suit the situation, and for us, Marcus is one of those players who has brute force, and we know that he can be dangerous at the back end, so we've tried to hold him back a little bit. We've kept it slightly flexible with the batting roles, and this is the role we've picked him for, the finisher for us and even today, he batted well."

"He's [Stoinis] showing that he can win us games single-handedly, but you need someone to support him at the other end, and he needs, and the team needs the top order to set up the game for someone like Stoinis and Jason to come in and finish games which haven't happened, unfortunately. We might even see Stoinis batting up the order in the next game or the coming games where we give him more overs to play and give him a chance to go out there and be the dangerous Stoinis that he is," concluded Rahul. Watch his complete presser above.