Matt Henry lauds ‘world class’ Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul for crucial win vs CSK

LSG snapped their two-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League with a strong 8-wicket win against CSK at their home.

Playing at the Ekana Stadium, KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock combined to help LSG chase down a target of 177 runs in a slow pitch. LSG’s debutant – Matt Henry, spoke after the game and lauded the duo’s partnership as the game-changing moment in the fixture.

LSG had been suffering issues with their top order in the last three games. Due to the inexperience at No. 3 and No. 4 position, the dismissals of openers KL Rahul and de Kock was proving costly for the team.

If not for Nicholas Pooran Pooran, LSG’s totals in the previous matches would have looked worse than they actually were. On Friday, the openers however looked in stunning touch and went about their business aggressively in the powerplay. After the pitch slowed down, they marshalled LSG to 134 in the 15th over, when de Kock got out for 54 runs off 43 balls.

Rahul however hung on till the 18th over and got out for 82 off 53 balls when LSG were 161. After the duo’s dismissal, Nicholas Pooran took charge of LSG’s chase and finished the job with one over remaining.

“The incredible knocks of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul is what changed the game for us. When you bat the way they did, the intent they showed, the batsmanship overall, I think that’s what changed the game for us today,” Matt Henry said at the post-match press conference.

“It was definitely a competitive total. We knew that it was going to come down to partnerships. When you are chasing something like this, you need the guys in the top order to make big runs. Today there were two of them. The way they went about their work gave us momentum and that laid a platform for us to finish the job against what was a really good bowling attack,” Henry further added.

The win was a crucial one for LSG who had lost back to back matches against DC and KKR. The win put them in the 5th position in the league table with 8 points from seven games.