'Since WC selection, things seemed to change' - Justin Langer's startling analysis after LSG fails to reach IPL 2024 playoffs

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer said that his team had been playing good cricket in April but after India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad was announced, the intensity dropped and the results didn't go their way.

Langer didn't name any player during his assessment. However, he was likely talking about captain KL Rahul and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who were two of the biggest names to have missed out on selection to India's squad for next month's marquee event. The Men in Blue announced their squad on April 31.

Before April 31, LSG had played 10 matches in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). They had won six matches and lost four. However, after the squad announcement, Lucknow went on to lose three matches on the trot before finishing their campaign with a win against Mumbai Indians on Friday, May 17. After reaching the playoffs in the last two editions, Rahul and Co. couldn't progress beyond the league stage this year.

"Since the World Cup selection, things seemed to change a little bit. We had a couple of poor games and it really cost us. We played really good cricket through April, but we fell away. It's been disappointing. We had a very good team, we missed a few bowlers due to injuries and that made a difference. It's a shame that we were not able to make it to the playoffs," Langer said at the post-match press conference as quoted by India Today.

Also Read: 'Those injuries and guys that went away really dented us' - KL Rahul reflects on LSG's failure to make it to IPL 2024 playoff

Justin Langer feels not strike rate but conversion rate let KL Rahul down in IPL 2024

Rahul has been criticized for his strike rates for quite some time in T20 cricket. This year, he finished with a strike rate of 136.13, scoring 520 runs from 14 matches. The Karnataka batter tried to play aggressively in the first half of the season but finished the campaign with some of his typically watchful knocks. Langer, however, wasn't concerned about Rahul's strike rates but pointed out that the 32-year-old's conversion rates let him down this season.

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"One area KL Rahul would like to improve is that he got some really good 30s and 40s, and then found someone on the boundary. I think he is a really good player, a really good person. I have heard the criticism, but understand that everyone does it differently. If you play at a strike rate of 160s throughout, that is very high-risk cricket. The game is evolving, I think he will evolve as a player as well," Langer said.