On Sunday evening will be witnessing yet another epic clash at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, where hosts Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will lock horns against mighty Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Both teams won their last match against the same team Mumbai Indians.
Since Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders are in top position on 2nd and 3rd respectively. Both will keep an eye on remaining in the top 4 as Kolkata Knight Riders have a solid opportunity to grab more two points to go an inch closer to qualifying for playoffs and Lucknow Super Giants will also try to keep their winning momentum.
Journey- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had a flying start this season and faced ups and downs but succeeded. Skipper KL Rahul is in fine touch with the bat and make sure will keep continuing it. Aussie Star all-rounder will keep his head high and has shown why he is the perfect all-rounder for the team with the bat and bowl. Bowlers are also gaining momentum and giving their level best. Young pace sensation Mayank Yadav suffered an injury which made him take exit from the tournament. Concerns will be raised for Lucknow Super Giants if Quinton De Cock doesn’t play.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is having a dream season they have dominated throughout the tournament some minor issues were raised about their bowling form but it was proved wrong in the last match where they defeated Mumbai Indians by 24 runs and the main highlight was Mitchell Starc is back in form. Batters need to play according to the situation random shots will cost them badly, which was committed in the last match.
Stats
- KL Rahul’s strike rate in the powerplay has improved from 119 in the last season to 140 this season. This season, he has also batted through the powerplay 70% of the time.
- KKR bowlers’ economy rate in the powerplay is 9.8, which is the worst among all teams this season. LSG bowlers, meanwhile, have conceded only at 8.2 in this phase.
- How do you stop Stoinis? Call Varun or Russell. Stoinis has been dismissed by Varun and Russell two times each in four meetings respectively. Stoinis also strikes only at 60 against Varun.
Head-to-Head: Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders
LSG 3 – 1 KKR. This will be the first game between these two sides in Lucknow.
Match-ups
Phil Salt’s highest score this season – a devastating 89 off 47 – came against LSG in the reverse fixture. But the KKR opener has been ordinary away from home (53 runs in 4 innings). In that game, he had the measure of both Mohsin Khan and Yash Thakur, so LSG might need a different route. Mohsin, however, could be the way to get rid of Sunil Narine early. The KKR opener has been dismissed thrice by left-arm quicks this season, scoring 61 off 46 balls. Ekana stadium’s big square boundaries should aid the hosts in luring Narine into playing a false shot.
Narine and Varun Chakravarthy come into this game having conceded just 44 runs for 4 wickets in eight overs combined (2 for 22 each) just a day ago. Both have a favourable match-up against two of LSG’s biggest match-winners Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran. Stoinis has been dismissed six times by spin this season, including once by Chakravarthy in the home game. Andre Russell, who had to bowl his entire quota of overs against MI, has also been effective against the LSG pair.
Probable XI: KL Rahul (C, wk), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ashton Turner, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur [Impact substitute: Arshin Kulkarni]
Probable XI: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy [Impact substitute: Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Manish Pandey]
Pitch Report
While the pitch during LSG’s fixture against RR was batting-friendly, the one laid out against MI was on the slower side. Given that KKR has a strong spin attack, the home side will not want to give away any advantage in that department. The average first-innings score at the venue since IPL 2023 has been 160.