Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have endured a miserable stretch at their home base in Lucknow, losing all three of their matches there this IPL season. Their latest setback came on Wednesday, when they suffered a 40-run defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals (RR), extending what has become a worrying run of home results in IPL 2026. While LSG coach Justin Langer blamed the side\u2019s inability to \u201cadapt\u201d to what he described as \u201ca brilliant cricket pitch,\u201d Faf du Plessis and Dale Steyn pointed to deeper issues\u2014questioning the team\u2019s decision-making and highlighting Nicholas Pooran\u2019s form as a key trigger for the collapse.<\/p>\n
In the chase on Wednesday, LSG set off with Mitchell Marsh and Ayush Badoni at the top. Aiden Markram fell to number four, after Rishabh Pant and Pooran\u2014both placed at five in the batting order. The same top three had been used in the previous match as well, but before that, Markram had started the innings alongside Marsh, while Badoni had been batting at number five. LSG have shuffled the roles of Pant, Pooran, and Badoni more than once, but the changes have not translated into sustained success.<\/p>\n
Du Plessis, speaking on ESPNcricinfo\u2019s TimeOut show, urged the team to keep things simple and trust what has worked. \u201cWhat is your strength? What has worked for us? Stick with it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what\u2019s worked for them is that they had a strong opening combination last year [Marsh and Markram]. And now you\u2019re trying to plug every gap, and it\u2019s difficult. It\u2019s like trying to satisfy everyone. You can\u2019t make everyone happy. So stick to your strengths and make it as straightforward as possible. They\u2019re trying to bat Markram in the middle order to steady things, but then you end up losing two wickets in the powerplay. It\u2019s just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steyn zeroed in on Pooran as the turning point. \u201cPooran. Pooran is the catalyst in this,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Pooran\u2019s not scoring runs, it forces you to shuffle and rearrange good batters, trying to manage the situation. I also feel there\u2019s a hint of doubt in the coach\u2019s thinking\u2014because they know they need to back him, given what his potential is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steyn added that the problem grows when Pooran fails to deliver. \u201cBut if he isn\u2019t contributing with runs, somebody has to be in there who makes an impact. So Markram is being pushed around\u2014from where he should bat as an opener to the middle order\u2014because the team wants stability there. The issue is they\u2019re too hesitant to drop Pooran because they don\u2019t have the confidence that someone like [Matthew] Breetzke could come in and do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pooran has featured in all seven matches so far, but his impact has lagged behind expectations. His best score in the tournament so far is 22, in the match on Wednesday, and his 73 runs have come at a strike rate of 82.02. Markram, Badoni, Marsh, and Pant have also not been at their sharpest, but their returns have been markedly better than Pooran\u2019s. Last season, Marsh crossed the 600-run mark, Pooran reached 500 runs, and Markram finished with close to 450 runs\u2014numbers that underline how far the current campaign has drifted from the heights LSG previously reached.<\/p>\n
Langer, who has now overseen five defeats in seven games, finds himself navigating a season that has already taken a sharp turn for the worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we haven\u2019t quite clicked, have we,\u201d Langer said at the post-match press conference. \u201cLast year, our numbers were incredible, and we were disappointed that a lot of our bowlers were either injured, returning from injury, or not fully fit. This year, our bowlers have really been a strong point. Mohsin Khan, again, was outstanding. Prince Yadav\u2014both of them are players who have the quality to play for India. They\u2019re super talents. Mayank [Yadav] came back today, which was really good. He\u2019s been away for some time after his back surgery, and it\u2019s great to see him return with courage. He\u2019ll be better over the run of games. [Mohammed] Shami does what he does\u2014he\u2019s a very crafty bowler. I also thought Digvesh Rathi bowled well today, and our fielding was excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then pointed to the batting as the main concern. \u201cBut our batting just isn\u2019t quite coming together. If you\u2019d told us at the start of the season\u2014after how many games we\u2019ve played now, seven\u2014that our batting wouldn\u2019t click despite the calibre of players we have, we\u2019d never have imagined it. We\u2019re working hard on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discussing the adjustments to the batting order and the need to compensate for the Pooran situation, Langer explained, \u201cWe felt at the start of the season that they can do it. [But] just because it worked last year doesn\u2019t automatically mean it will work this year. That said, Aiden is a selfless kind of player. We felt from the first few games that we needed that cricket intelligence in the middle. And we thought, with Nicky and Aiden\u2014two of our most experienced players\u2014it\u2019s often the toughest place to bat in T20 cricket. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve adjusted it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the team has been thinking deeply about the batting approach. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of thought going into it. Interestingly, the last game against Punjab [Kings] was probably our best batting display, and tonight obviously wasn\u2019t. When you lose wickets, everyone knows that if you lose wickets in the powerplay, you end up chasing your tail. Tonight we were chasing our tail. It\u2019s really frustrating. It\u2019s frustrating for our fans. It\u2019s frustrating for everyone in the dressing room. Everyone\u2019s working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have endured a miserable stretch at their home base in Lucknow, losing all three of their matches there this IPL season.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Dale Steyn on Pooran as LSG Lose Again","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"LSG\u2019s home woes continue in IPL 2026 as Dale Steyn analyses Nicholas Pooran\u2019s impact after Lucknow\u2019s 40-run loss to Rajasthan Royals.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n