Lucknow Super Giants had their worst IPL season in 2024. The team, which debuted in 2022, qualified for playoffs in its first two seasons. However, the change in the backroom staff seems to have hurt the Super Giants this year. Gautam Gambhir and Andy Flower left the Lucknow-based franchise, with Justin Langer taking over the new head coach’s role.
At one stage, it looked like the Super Giants would easily qualify for the playoffs, especially when they completed a double over Chennai Super Kings. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 10-wicket win against LSG completely shattered their morale. They could not make a comeback after that and crashed out of the tournament.
One of the major reasons behind LSG’s failure was the injuries and unavailability of their first-choice bowlers. They used every specialist bowler available in their squad this season, which is a rare thing in IPL. However, LSG did not use the following two all-rounders.
1. Lucknow Super Giants benched Kyle Mayers in all matches of IPL 2024
It was baffling to see the Lucknow-based franchise give so many chances to Quinton de Kock and Ashton Turner but not giving a single opportunity to Kyle Mayers. The West Indian all-rounder proved himself as a game-changer for the Super Giants in IPL 2023.
Mayers showed that the pitch and the ground dimensions did not matter to him because he could hit the ball hard out of the fence on any wicket. However, LSG did not give him a single match in IPL 2024.
2. Prerak Mankad
Uncapped Indian medium pace-bowling all-rounder Prerak Mankad also watched the entire IPL 2024 season from the sidelines. Mankad is a 29-year-old all-rounder, but U19 star Arshin Kulkarni got an opportunity ahead of him. Also, Mankad scored a half-ton for LSG last season, but they did not show any interest in playing him this season.
