Having suffered a mini slump after losing their two previous games, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will face a sterner challenge when they take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday.

Both sides head into the match with contrasting fortunes, as the CSK brigade are coming off two successive victories, and are comfortably placed at the third position in the IPL points tally with four wins from their six outings so far.

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LSG, on the other hand, are currently at the fifth place, after recording three wins and as many losses in their six games, and need to pull up their socks against a well-oiled machine like the CSK.

The Lucknow franchise has been hit with injuries to their key players. Their young pace sensation Mayank Yadav had to sit out of the last two games after suffering lower abdominal strain after playing just two and a quarter games. While the 21-year-old has resumed training on Wednesday, it remains to be seen whether he is cleared to launch his thunderbolts against CSK formidable batting order on Friday.

In the spin department, Ravi Bishnoi has been bowling tight spells, but has managed to pick only four wickets in the six games so far. As such Bishnoi’s contest with spin-hitter Shivam Dube promises to be an exciting contest.

In the batting department, Quinton de Kock, after slamming consecutive half-tons, has hit a rough patch in the previous three games while his opening partner and skipper KL Rahul (204 runs at 138 SR) hasn’t been able to get the side to brisk starts.

Young Ayush Badoni has also been impressive in patches, as much of the workload of adding meat to their scores rests on the shoulders of Nicholas Pooran, who has hit 19 sixes for far in IPL 2024. Krunal Pandya, a handy left-hander, has been underutilised by the franchise, as he has cumulatively faced mere 41 deliveries in six games.

The CSK on the other hand, will look to continue their winning momentum and for that a lot rests on the shoulders of their skipper Ruturaj Gayakwad and his set of batters adapting to the slowness of the track. Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Dube and Dhoni have all been in red-hot form, and the Lucknow crowd could be treated to an evening of electrifying entertainment.

CSK’s bowling department boasts of big names like Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana, whose yorkers are literally unplayable at the death. while Mustafizur, the highest wicket-taker for CSK this season, has at least three variations of cutters, which is enough to fox any top-order batter.

Ravindra Jadeja could be a handful on the sluggish wicket at the Ekana, and CSK might be tempted to use a second spinning option in Maheesh Theekshana to make full use of the conditions in Lucknow.