Lucknow Super Giants assistant coach Vijay Dahiya admitted that they failed to carry the impetus after they got a solid start from their openers against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday. Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram added 87 runs in the first 10 overs before the latter was dismissed.

But in the next 10 overs, the hosts could only manage 72 runs and posted only 159 runs on the board. In the last five overs, the home team scored only 35 runs as David Miller trudged to 14 runs off 15 balls whereas Abdul Samad could only manage two off eight deliveries after he was promoted in the batting order.

Dahiya didn’t blame the surface and gave credit to the Delhi Capitals’ bowlers for assessing the conditions well. Mukesh Kumar was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with impressive figures of 4-33 in his quota of four overs.

“We had more than 80 runs in the 8th and 9th over. Thereafter we lost some momentum. So rather than talking about the pitch, we will try to address the other things. We should have seized that momentum.

“Let’s give credit where it’s due. I think Delhi Capitals bowlers assessed the conditions very well. If you look at both innings, there were a few overs where the ball stopped slightly. At that time, they used cutters and made a very good comeback.

The former Indian wicket-keeper bat said they tried to change the momentum by promoting David Miller but the South African could not change gears.

“I think in the T20 format, there is only one plan, and that is to have a lot of plans. Nothing is decided in this game. You try to understand how the game is going and how you will try to ride it. We were a little behind the game. We tried to make a comeback. So, that’s why the effort to promote Miller, who plays with an attacking style, to see if that could change anything. If we managed to get 10-15 runs from a few overs then, the game could have been different.”

Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Sunday.