India, May 21 -- When Lucknow Super Giants assembled their support staff, headed by former Australia coach Justin Langer and IPL journeyman coach Tom Moody, the expectation was that the franchise would finally graduate from being a talented but inconsistent side into a genuine title contender.

Instead, what unfolded through the season was a campaign riddled with confused selections, questionable combinations and a team that never quite appeared to know what its strongest XI actually was.

For long phases of the tournament, it seemed that head coach Langer and skipper Rishabh Pant were operating from different tactical playbooks. The body language after defeats, the chopping and changing of personnel and the indecisiveness around batting ...