New Delhi: Former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody feels that Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) failed to ace the auction game last year after spending Rs 48 crore on acquiring just two players - captain Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore) and Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore) - which left them with little to no money to dilute on signing top-notch bowlers.

A six-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad crushed their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs for the second successive season since their induction to the tournament in 2022.

“The expense on Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran, those two players, makes it very hard to build a very strong bowling unit. Because you just don’t have the funds to compete at the auction table,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out.

“In an ideal world, it’s great to have Pooran, (David) Miller, (Mitchell) Marsh, Pant... all these are impactful batters, but at the end of the day, you need to bowl. You’ve got to be able to have an impactful bowling unit in powerplays. Be adaptable in the middle overs and take wickets, and squeeze the opposition. And in the back-end of the innings, you need people to close the game under pressure - take wickets, bowl those really challenging overs when the opposition is going hell-for-leather against you. And I just don’t think they’ve got any of that.”

LSG had depleted pace resources for the season with Mohsin Khan missing the entire tournament, while Mayank Yadav spent most of it on the sidelines. Both Avesh Khan and Akash Deep dealt with fitness concerns, which impacted their performances. Meanwhile, Mohsin’s replacement, Shardul Thakur, started strong but faded as the season progressed. Lucknow Super Giants batter Mitchell Marsh backed captain Rishabh Pant to come out strong in the last two matches of the season after having a forgettable campaign so far that resulted in their playoffs elimination for the second consecutive year.

Pant is experiencing his worst-ever IPL season with only 135 runs in 12 games so far. He has scored a single half-century in the season and his strike rate at 100 has been his lowest-ever in the tournament. Pant’s only season where he amassed less than 200 came in 2016 when he made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils). His form has also impacted LSG’s chances to qualify for the playoffs.

With two matches left in the league stage, Marsh feels Pant will look to put up a performance in the remaining games.

“I think the time for reflection is probably after the season and for me personally just focus on trying to contribute to winning the next two games for our team and for our franchise. Like I said, the IPL is a beast of a tournament and the margins are really small,” Marsh said in the post-match press conference.

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori acknowledged his team’s performance against LSG despite missing out on the playoffs spot.

“I think for us it’s just learning about conditions and understanding how we play in those certain conditions, and a few times we’ve been tripped up by them,” Vettori said.