IPL 2024: 'The squad announcement was...' - Justin Langer indirectly mentions KL Rahul's T20 World Cup snub as a reason for LSG's failure

Lucknow Super Giants ended their IPL 2024 campaign with a win by 18 runs against Mumbai Indians in their last game of the league stage. With that win, LSG’s IPL 2024 campaign got 7 wins and the same number of defeats to their name in their 14 matches. However, the LSG failing to make it to the playoff stage of the tournament caught the eyeballs as the team made it to the playoffs in IPL 2022 and IPL 2023.

Meanwhile, the LSG head coach Justin Langer spoke at length about the failure of his side in the current season of the tournament. The former Aussie Southpaw also referred to the selection India squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and held it responsible for LSG’s dismal run in the second half.

Here's what Justin Langer said indirectly about the failure of LSG in iPL 29024 

Without naming any player categorically, Langer seemed to talk indirectly about the LSG skipper KL Rahul and spinner Ravi Bishnoi as both the stars were not picked in the Indian squad for the upcoming prestigious cricket biennial.

“Since the squad announcement, things were different. We lost a few games which cost us. We had a great run until April, then it just faded. It has not lived up to expectations. Although we had a strong team, the fact that we were missing a few bowlers because of injuries had an impact,” said Langer after a win against Mumbai Indians.

“It's disappointing that we failed to make it to the playoffs,” he added later.

Furthermore, Langer also appreciated the LSG skipper and star opener KL Rahul and spoke about his game plan and his intent while executing any strategy there in the middle.

“One thing to work out about KL is that he always departed after scoring a 30 or 40. He is a kind guy and a talented player, in my opinion. I’ve heard the criticism, but I feel that everyone approaches things in their own way. It’s pretty high-risk cricket if you play at a strike rate of 160s all the way through. I believe that just as the game is changing, so will he as a player,” he said.