Former Indian captain Kris Srikkanth criticised Lucknow Super Giants’ batting after they suffered a 40-run loss against Rajasthan Royals at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Wednesday. Srikkanth called out Aiden Markram, who was dismissed for a six-ball duck by Jofra Archer after he ballooned a bouncer to wicket-keeper, Dhruv Jurel.
LSG were bowled out for 119 runs while chasing 160 against the inaugural champions, as once again their batting led to their downfall. None of the LSG batters, barring Mitchell Marsh, could show much resistance with the bat as the home team kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were never in the run chase.
Srikkanth wants LSG to bat out-of-form Nicholas Pooran at one drop. Pooran was dismissed after scoring 22 runs off 25 balls and has managed only 73 runs in seven innings in IPL 2026.
Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Pooran was finally looking good today, but got out off the first big shot he attempted. He should definitely bat at No.3. Aiden Markram is so clueless that he doesn’t even know where the ball is coming. Mitchell Marsh was batting very well and needed just two good partnerships. He got one with Pooran, and this was the ideal situation where Badoni at No.6 would have been useful. He would have maneuvered the field well. Instead, you made Badoni open the batting.”
“They showed no application. This is the definition of a miserable team. I’ve never seen a worse team in IPL history. They have no clue how to bat or play in general. They’ve Tom Moody, Kane Williamson, and Justin Langer. Yet the basic thinking is lacking. Why is Ayush Badoni opening, and why didn’t Bretzkee come out to bat?”
Srikkanth added LSG should have backed Matthew Breetzke ahead of Himmat Singh, who was dismissed after scoring a run-a-ball 15.
He concluded, “It was clear that Himmat Singh was tense and got out because of it. How did you send him ahead of Bretzkee? Bretzkee is a proven international cricketer who did well against India also. Though he might be more of an ODI batter, he can play well in T20s also. He has scored century after century in ODIs, and such a player can always adjust to T20s. He should have been an obvious choice.”
LSG will next take on KKR at Lucknow on Sunday.
