Kolkata Knight Riders will have strutted into town for their first-ever IPL game in Lucknow. Short-turn around time in IPL can be daunting, but not for a side that is coming off its first win at the hallowed Wankhede since 2012. Granted Mumbai Indians are in quite a mess this year, but Shreyas Iyer’s side recovered commedbly well from a top-order collapse through a fantastic bowling effort. The win opened up a crucial two-point gap between them and their opponents for Sunday evening, as the season hurtles towards the business end.
It’s the same gap LSG will hope to gain over the chasing pack, even if they have one more in the games played column. They had a three-game winning run early in the season but since then it has been two steps forward, one back for Rahul’s side. The losses haven’t derailed their season, but another one could throw them into the mid-table dogfight. They’ll hope to stay away from it by capping off the Lucknow leg of the season with a fifth win in seven games.
When: Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders, May 5, 2024, 19:30 IST
Where:Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
What to expect:The previous fixture gave bowlers a respite as the centre-wicket was chosen to deny batters the advantage of one shorter side. Runs will flow or not on Sunday depending on which pitch they pick for it. The big ground dimensions has made six-hitting tougher than other venues, but KKR could come to challenge that.
Head to Head: LSG 3 – 1 KKR. This will be the first game between these two sides in Lucknow.
Team Watch:
Lucknow Super Giants
Injuries/Availability: Mayank Yadav suffered another setback in LSG’s game against MI and is unlikely to feature again this year.
Tactics & Matchups: 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 getting 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.
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]
Kolkata Knight Riders
Injuries/Availability:Harshit Rana served his one-match ban in KKR’s game against MI and should slot right back into the XI.
Tactics & Matchups: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 in 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.
Should LSG bring back Quinton de Kock after benching him in the previous fixture, KKR will unleash Mitchell Starc on him. The Aussie is coming fresh off a four-wicket haul and is the kind of bowler – left-arm pacer – that has troubled the South African batter all season (6 dismissals).
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]
Did you know?
– KL Rahul has six 50-plus scores in 14 innings against KKR, scoring runs at a strike rate of 138.41 against the two-time champions
– Together, Narine and Varun have 26 wickets in 77 overs across 10 matches, conceding at just 7.65