LSG financial institution on dwelling benefit to get their marketing campaign off the bottom
Match particulars
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Lucknow, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)
Big image – Welcome dwelling, Lucknow Super Giants
The final time these two groups met, there have been relentless fireworks in Mohali, the place LSG first racked up 257, the second-highest IPL whole then, adopted by Kings’ 201.
The two groups now meet in Lucknow, a venue of low bounce and low totals final yr, when situations modified relying on the color of the soil, with the house crew preferring black to pink for many video games. A red-soil pitch is anticipated on Saturday, which might imply extra bounce and tempo for the quicks and never a lot of a celebration for the spinners. If that is how the motion unfolds, there’s prone to be strain on LSG’s tempo unit as a result of, on paper, their trio of Mohsin Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq and Yash Thakur (they are not contemplating Shamar Joseph but) pales compared to Kings’ extra all-round assault of Kagiso Rabada, Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel.
How can LSG make up? With their high-voltage batting that boasts of Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers and Ayush Badoni. Kings aren’t behind in any respect with the batting firepower of their ranks, however Jonny Bairstow is but to attain for them the way in which he did for Sunrisers Hyderabad (he missed IPL 2023 with damage), and the massive names of Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone together with the hard-hitting Prabhsimran Singh want to make sure that they emerge as one of many quickest-scoring groups, in contrast to final yr when their collective strike charge of 143.80 was sixth overall.
LSG are at present positioned backside of the desk after only one recreation, whereas Kings have received one out of two, and the comforting issue LSG will financial institution on is dwelling benefit this IPL – dwelling groups have received every of the primary 9 video games of the event.
LSG’s new head coach Justin Langer mentioned he was completely satisfied to get his crew’s opening recreation out of the way in which, “get a bit of rust out”, and is keen to money in on home-ground benefit.
Team news – No Shamar Joseph but, Kings seemingly unchanged
LSG’s tempo shares aren’t a match for Kings’ on paper, however they may wait slightly longer to unleash Shamar Joseph onto this league, Langer confirmed on the eve of the match. “I love his spirit and athleticism but he’s still very young,” Langer mentioned of Joseph. “He’s pushing hard for selection but I don’t think he’ll play tomorrow though.” Langer additional mentioned LSG have historically performed three abroad batters and one international bowler which has introduced them success, however they may determine a closing XI on Saturday.
Kings went unchanged for his or her second recreation and are prone to proceed that, except there’s a niggle.
Impact Player technique
Lucknow Super Giants
After bowling first of their first recreation, LSG had substituted specialist bowler Yash Thakur with spin-bowling allrounder Deepak Hooda within the chase. If the pitch on Saturday aids spin greater than tempo, they might use Hooda by way of the sport and use a specialist batter, equivalent to Ayush Badoni or Padikkal, within the impression function.
Probable XII: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 KL Rahul (capt), 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Ayush Badoni, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Nicholas Pooran, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohsin Khan, 11 Naveen-ul-Haq, 12 Yash Thakur/Shivam Mavi
Punjab Kings
In each video games to this point, Kings have used Prabhsimran Singh and Arshdeep Singh as their impression subs relying on the toss outcome, and that’s prone to proceed.
Probable XII: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Prabhsimran Singh, 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Sam Curran, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Shashank Singh, 8 Harpreet Brar, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Rahul Chahar, 12 Arshdeep Singh
Stats that matter –
- KL Rahul vs Kagiso Rabada may very well be an thrilling contest – the LSG captain has scored 50 runs off 36 balls from Rabada’s within the IPL whereas being dismissed thrice.
- Padikkal dealing with Arshdeep Singh may very well be comparable, as a result of the batter has scored 49 off 31 towards the let-arm fast within the IPL whereas being despatched again thrice.
- Pooran batted at No. 6 in LSG’s first recreation and he’ll attempt to bat deep to face Harshal Patel within the dying. Pooran has smashed 25 runs off 10 balls towards Harshal with out falling even as soon as within the IPL.
- Against in style notion, left-hand batter Shikhar Dhawan would not have an ideal report towards the left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya: 29 off 26 with no dismissal and only one 4 and one six.
Pitch and situations – pink soil or black?
The Ekana Stadium was the worst floor for batters in IPL 2023. The common scoring charge of 6.93 was the bottom among the many 10 venues that hosted at the least 5 matches, the balls-per-boundary ratio of seven.7 was the best, and the bounce was typically low particularly on black-soil surfaces. How these two high-octane batting line-ups play right here can be fascinating to look at.
Quotes
“I’m not going to lose one second’s sleep over KL Rahul.”
Justin Langer backs his captain regardless of the fixed scrutiny over his strike charge
“Speaking on the Ekana pitch, I am aware of how the bounce and dimensions work on this surface. So my task is to inform the players on which are the good pockets where we can bowl on to get the maximum from the pitch.”
PBKS spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi is aware of the Lucknow floor as a result of he coaches the Uttar Pradesh crew in home cricket
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo