Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will be looking to continue their fine run in IPL 2023 when they host Punjab Kings (PBKS) at their home stadium of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket on Saturday.
KL Rahul led LSG have won three of their first four fixtures this year. The team's latest victory arrived when it sneaked past Royal Challengers Bangalore on the last ball to notch a thrilling 1-wicket win at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday night.
But mood in the PBKS camp will be somber after the team tasted a 6-wicket defeat at the hands of defending champions Gujarat Titans at home on Thursday.
The two results has meant that before the match gets underway LSG will remain one of the top three teams on IPL 2023 points table while PBKS will remain confined in the bottom half of the table.
LSG look to sort out top-order issues
Despite the win, LSG will have to address some issues if it looks to continue its winning run.
The most pressing concern for the team is the form of Rahul with the bat. Rahul is known for consistency in IPL but he has struggled to get going this year. The LSG captain is yet to notch a fifty this season and has been dismissed on the scores of 8, 20, 35 and 18. The batting issue has been further compounded by the fact that the team's other opener Kyle Mayers, have gone off the boil in the last two matches. The West Indian was bowled on a duck against RCB before losing his wicket on 13 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Mayers' twin failures could prompt, LSG to bench him and give Quinton de Kock a chance to shine. de Kock has been confined to the benches ever since he joined the LSG late owing to his international commitments. But de Kock can be trusted upon as he was team's second-highest run scorer behind Rahul last year.
Should LSG find a solid opening combination it could have one of the most potent batting orders in the tournament provided Marcus Stoinis and Nichollas Pooran are on song after blasting quickfire half-centuries against RCB.
Bowling wise the team looks fine as fast bowler Mark Wood and spin trio of Ravi Bishnoi, Amit Mishra and Krunal Pandya have been all amongst wickets. If there is one bowler who needs to pull up his socks is Indian pacer Avesh Khan.
PBKS too look to resolve top-order woes
Like LSG, PBKS too have issues at the top of their batting order. Captain Shikhar Dhawan is single-handedly doing the bulk of the scoring for the team and is failing to get support from the other end.
Dhawan is leading the IPL 2023 run-scoring charts and has scored two fifties with a high score of 99*. His 233 runs this year are nearly three times more than team's second-highest run scorer Prabhsimran Singh who has accumulated only 83 runs. Dhawan cannot rescue his team every time and more is expected from Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma and Shahrukh Khan.
The bowlers also need to step up as Arshdeep Singh and Nathan Ellis are the team's top-two leading wicket takers with 7 wickets and 5 wickets to their names respectively. The bowling should gradually pick steam as South African speedster Kagiso Rabada has played only one match this season.
The team would hope that English all-rounder Liam Livingstone is fit enough to merit selection in the playing XI for the match against LSG. Livingstone joined PBKS squad late as he got fitness clearance from the ECB late. Livingstone is making a comeback after a long-term injury. But should the all-rounder be fit he will fortify the team. Last season Livingstone scored 470 runs and was team's second-highest run scorer. The Englishman backed 470 runs with 6 wickets.
Sam Curran, IPL's most-expensive player, also need to up his game. The all-rounder has picked only 2 wickets and scored a total of 71 runs from 4 outings.
Predicted playing XIs
LSG's predicted playing XI
KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Jaydev Unadkat, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi
PBKS predicted playing XI
Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rishi Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh
Key Player to watch out for
Nichollas Pooran (LSG)
Nichollas Pooran is the team's leading run-getter this year after scoring 141 runs so far. Pooran has played valuable knocks for the team lower down the order and his breathtaking fifty revived Lucknow's run chase. With a strike rate of 220.31 Pooran finds himself second in the list, behind Shardul Thakur, of the batsmen with the best strike rates. Expect more entertaining cameos from the West Indian as the season unfolds.
Shikhar Dhawan (PBKS)
Punjab Kings will again rely on the consistency of their skipper Shikhar Dhawan. As a batsmat, Dhawan has hit two fifties including an unbeaten 99* against Sunrisers Hyderabad that helped the team recover from a sorry looking 88/9 to eventually end up with a modest 143/9. With other batters yet to get into groove, the onus is on Dhawan to help the team towards big scores.
Pitch
The average first innings total from the two IPL matches played at the stadium has been 157. The pitches in Lucknow are not that easy to bat on.
Where to Watch?
Television viewers can tune into this game at 7:30 pm on Saturday on the Star Sports network and the digital audience can catch the action at the same in the JioCinema application.
