Lucknow Super Giants will be desperately be looking to grab the two points on offer from Sunday’s home clash against Kolkata Knight Riders and avoid getting into a mid-table battle with three other teams as the race to the IPL 2024 playoffs has intensified.
The Lucknow Super Giants are placed just one rung below KKR at number three with 12 points from 10 matches with six wins and four defeats. With the dangerous Sunrisers Hyderabad (12 points) closely following them at fourth, followed by Chennai Super Kings (10 points) and Delhi Capitals (10 points) on the table, the pressure will be on the LSG to stay ahead in the race.
Both sides will head into the contest on the back of recording wins against Mumbai Indians. While KKR banked on an all-round performance to secure a 24-run victory against MI on Friday to get to 14 points, LSG were far from convincing in their four-run win over the five-time champions when they last played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
As such, KL Rahul and the team management will be hoping for a stellar effort from the boys against a rampant KKR. For that, the onus will be on Rahul himself to provide a sound opening stand with either of his partners. While the veteran Quinton de Kock was replaced by young Arshin Kulkarni in the previous game, the gamble didn’t pay off for LSG as the youngster failed to trouble the scorers. As such, it will be interesting to see whether the team goes back to their tested combination of Rahul and de Kock, or backs the young Kulkarni.
Marcus Stoinis, who has been the key to LSG late resurgence, will once again be entrusted to man the middle order batting along side the likes of Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda. Ayush Badoni will also be expected to step up to the occasion as the IPL approaches the business end.
Their bowling department has suffered a jolt with rookie quick Mayank Yadav likely being ruled out of the clash, and thus Mohsin Khan and Yash Thakur would be expected to be disciplined if they are to avoid an onslaught from one of the fiercest opening combos in IPL 2024 — Phil Salt and Sunil Narine. The spin unit comprising the likes of Amit Mishra, Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi will have an important role to stop the flow of runs in the middle overs.
KKR, on the other hand, have been a dominant force this IPL, recording eight wins from 11 outings. It took some out-of-the-box ideas to from Chennai Super Kings (slower wicket at Chepauk), all-round show from Rajasthan Royals and a record T20 chase from Punjab Kings to beat the KKR on three occasions this edition.
But every time, they have been put on the backfoot, Shreyas Iyer’s side has bounced back brilliantly, and this time too, they are back after recording two impressive wins. However, against MI, their high-flying batting line-up failed to impress on a sluggish Wankhede track on Friday.
KKR slipped to 57 for five at one stage and ran the risk of being shot out for a paltry total, before Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) joined forces to bail them out with a fine 83-run stand, and thus Gautam Gambhir will be hoping for an improved show from his top-order batters on Sunday night.
The possible return of Harshit Rana after serving an one-match ban will bolster their bowling unit, that perfectly stifled MI’s chase on Friday, and would be hoping for an encore against LSG.