Lucknow Supergiants: They're placed comfortably at the second position in the points table currently. They have a very good batting lineup. Despite not being able to play Quinton De Kock in the XI, they've got the batters performing for them. Kyle Mayers has started to be a versatile batter for them. KL Rahul is doing his job pretty well, although strike rate is an issue. Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis are in good touch too. They would be concerned about Deepak Hooda's batting form.
Krunal Pandya and Krishnappa Gowtham have done well for them as the all-rounders. Ayush Badoni, though, needs to be consistent and aggressive. Bowling is their best forte. Mark Wood and Ravi Bishnoi have done well till now. Naveen Ul Haq was very good against Rajasthan for them. Even Avesh Khan has looked good in the last game. The return of Mohsin Khan would only boost their bowling lineup. They have a lot of resources in their attack.
Gujarat Titans: They're currently placed fourth in the points table after playing five games. Their batting has been a mixed bag. Saha and Gill form a good opening pair. But they aren't that consistent. Sai Sudarshan gets slow at times in the middle overs. Hardik Pandya needs to step up with the bat. David Miller has to improve his SR too. They can probably ask the captain to be the finisher and play Vijay Shankar at 4. Even Abhinav Manohar can fire in the lower middle order. Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan can finish games, but need to get used to the match situations.
Their bowling has been really good. Mohammed Shami has been at his best with the new ball. He gets wickets and doesn't give away many runs too. Alzarri Joseph has been so good with the ball. He has been bowling well in the middle overs. Mohit Sharma has been simply great in whatever he has bowled. Josh Little can also come handy for them if required. Rashid Khan, although being not at his economical best, is turning out to be a wicket taker in the middle overs. Of course, Hardik Pandya would bowl whenever he feels like doing so.
Probable Playing XIs:
Lucknow Supergiants:
KL Rahul (C), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham/Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood/Naveen Ul Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
Gujarat Titans:
Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan , Hardik Pandya (C), Vijay Shankar/Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Josh Little/Mohit Sharma
Interesting Facts:
- Head to Head: Both the teams have faced each other twice in IPL, both in 2022. Gujarat Titans beat Lucknow Supergiants on both the occasions.
- Marcus Stoinis is just 7 boundaries away from completing 100 fours in IPL.
- Ravi Bishnoi is 5 wickets away from completing 50 wickets in IPL.
- Wriddhiman Saha will be playing his 150th IPL game. He needs 6 boundaries to complete 250 fours in IPL.
- Rashid Khan needs just 2 wickets to complete 125 wickets in IPL.
- Amit Mishra needs just one wicket to become the joint third highest wicket taker in the history of IPL.
- Mark Wood, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi are in the race for purple cap. They need just 1, 1, 2 and 4 wickets respectively to momentarily get hold of the purple cap.
- For the batters with a minimum of 100 runs in the ongoing season, Nicholas Pooran has the best batting SR (200.00).
- For the bowlers with a minimum of 5 completely bowled overs in the ongoing season, Mohit Sharma has the best economy (4.17).
Pitch/Weather Report:
The match will be played in Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket stadium, Lucknow. So far, it has been one of the toughest pitches for the batters to score runs. Bowlers enjoy bowling here with slow tracks and fairly big boundaries. Both spinners and pacers can be effective here. Batters have to cleverly score runs.
It will be the first day game in the venue in the history of the league. We might witness a good battle between the bat and the ball. Dew would be out of equation. The team winning the toss should ideally bat first and post a big total on this wicket. But the captains would like to chase down the totals even in the day games these days.
Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket stadium, Lucknow.
Date and Time: 22nd Apr 2023, Saturday, 3:30 PM (IST).
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema.
Dream 11 team:
