Match particulars
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Lucknow, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)
Big image – Welcome home, Lucknow Super Giants
The two groups now meet in Lucknow, a venue of low bounce and low totals final 12 months, when circumstances modified relying on the color of the soil, with the home group 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 probably to be stress 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 as compared to Kings’ extra all-round assault of Kagiso Rabada, Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel.
LSG are at present positioned backside of the desk after only one recreation, whereas Kings have received out out of two, and the comforting issue LSG will bank on is home advantage this IPL – home groups have received every of the first 9 video games of the match.
LSG’s new head coach Justin Langer stated he was joyful to get his group’s opening recreation out of the means, “get a bit of rust out”, and is raring to money in on home-ground advantage.
Team information – No Shamar Joseph but, Kings probably unchanged
LSG’s tempo shares aren’t a match for Kings’ on paper, however they’ll 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 stated of Joseph. “He’s pushing hard for selection but I don’t think he’ll play tomorrow though.” Langer additional stated LSG have historically performed three abroad batters and one overseas bowler which has introduced them success, however they’ll resolve a ultimate XI on Saturday.
Kings went unchanged for their second recreation and are probably to proceed that, until there’s a niggle.
Impact Player technique
Lucknow Super Giants
After bowling first in their first recreation, LSG had substituted specialist bowler Yash Thakur with spin-bowling allrounder Deepak Hooda in the chase. If the pitch on Saturday aids spin greater than tempo, they may use Hooda via the recreation and use a specialist batter, resembling Ayush Badoni or Padikkal, in the affect 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 up to now, Kings have used Prabhsimran Singh and Arshdeep Singh as their affect subs relying on the toss outcome, and that’s probably 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 could possibly be an thrilling contest – the LSG captain has scored 50 runs off 36 balls from Rabada’s in the IPL whereas being dismissed 3 times.
- Padikkal going through Arshdeep Singh could possibly be comparable, as a result of the batter has scored 49 off 31 towards the let-arm fast in the IPL whereas being despatched again 3 times.
- Pooran batted at No. 6 in LSG’s first recreation and he’ll strive to bat deep to face Harshal Patel in the dying. Pooran has smashed 25 runs off 10 balls towards Harshal with out falling even as soon as in the IPL.
- Against well-liked notion, left-hand batter Shikhar Dhawan does not have an amazing file towards the left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya: 29 off 26 with no dismissal and only one 4 and one six.
Pitch and circumstances – pink soil or black?
The Ekana Stadium was the worst ground for batters in IPL 2023. The common scoring price of 6.93 was the lowest amongst the 10 venues that hosted a minimum of 5 matches, the balls-per-boundary ratio of seven.7 was the highest, and the bounce was typically low particularly on black-soil surfaces. How these two high-octane batting line-ups play right here will likely be attention-grabbing to watch.
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 price
“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 group in home cricket
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
