Head coach Justin Langer said the Ekana pitch is like "playing at the WACA", admitting that the Lucknow Super Giants have not been able to adjust to the pace and bounce there.

The home pitch has been a thorn in the side of Lucknow's campaign so far, having lost three in three this season. The latest trouncing at the hands of Rajasthan Royals is another blow in their already skewed home record: since 2024, they have won only six out of 17 games in Lucknow.

Speaking after the game on Wednesday (April 22), Langer called the pitch "brilliant", but rued the lack of adjustment from his batters. Their totals at the venue so far have been: 141, 164/8 and 119.

"I think the pitch here is very different than in most of India. It's a brilliant cricket pitch. You see pace and bounce and we just haven't quite adjusted to it," Langer said.

"I thought we started off with bowling quite well in it. We bowled well in the first game but we're just not adjusting to the extra pace and bounce. We saw that we've been out to the short ball a number of times, our batters, and that's what I would say".

Chasing 160, LSG slipped to 11/3 inside the first three overs, blown away by the new-ball pairing of Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger. Rishabh Pant was out swiping leg-side to a ball well outside off, only getting a thick edge behind, possibly fooled by the extra bounce. Aiden Markram then succumbed to Jofra Archer, top-edging a back-of-length delivery fired at his body.

"So we're not adjusting," Langer said. "We see a lot of the wickets in India where the ball doesn't bounce very high. This is like playing at the WACA (Perth). There's real pace and bounce, isn't there?

"I mean you're seeing some really interesting cricket being played here and we just haven't been able to adapt to it at this stage. We haven't quite clicked, have we?"

Langer, however, credited his pace unit for standing tall amid the defeats, earmarking Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav for higher honours.

"Last year our numbers were incredible and we were ruing the fact that a lot of our bowlers were injured or coming back from injury or not quite fit," Langer said. "This year our bowlers have been a real credit. I think Mohsin Khan, again outstanding. Prince Yadav, I think they're both two players who will play for India. No question in my mind they'll both play for India".

When asked if there was any say in pitch preparation from the franchise at Lucknow, Langer repeated that the pitch has been great, but the application from the batters not as much.

"No, no, no. Their groundsmen here: I've said for the last couple of years this is one of the best pitches in India. You see it. You know it's a big outfield. It's a big ground. It's a brilliant bat... it's a great cricket wicket actually and we just need to adapt to it better. You know we get to play a bit here but this is, we've got a very good groundsman. We've got a great cricket pitch. Every game's exciting cricket. We've just been on the wrong side of it so far".