Overview: Both LSG & PBKS had contrasting weekends as one team failed to chase a low target at the home ground and the other defended a huge target away from home. But still after seven games, both the teams have the same number of victories and defeats.
Punjab Kings: Punjab kings had a satisfying victory against the Mumbai Indians in their last game. They batted well in the first innings and especially in the final six overs, they simply destroyed the Mumbai Indians bowling attack. They will be even more satisfied as Harpreet Singh Bhatia got some runs and their captain hit his first 50 for this franchise. Sam Curran was the one who started the onslaught which was later continued by Jitesh Sharma. Their bowling department also must be appreciated equally because, even though when defending a huge target, considering the Mumbai Indians batting lineup and the pitch conditions, it was a great effort from the bowlers, especially Arshdeep Singh. The first half of the tournament for the Punjab kings has been good as their stand-in captain is doing well. Since they had a five-day long break, we expect Shikhar Dhawan to be back.
Lucknow Super Giants: LSG would want to forget what happened in their last game especially in the last five overs. The bowlers used the pitch conditions to the fullest and restricted a strong Gujarat batting lineup to just 135 but still failed to chase despite having few wickets in the bank. Rahul played the waiting game a bit too longer than what we all expected and failed at the end. The same sort of thing happened to him a couple of years back when he was playing for the opposite franchise against the Rajasthan Royals as well. They will be focusing on this particular game and they'll be happy to have a batting friendly wicket here at Mohali. It was at this same venue where KL Rahul created the record for the fastest half century in IPL history. As far as the team combination is concerned, the management has been currently stuck in a huge dilemma. During the start of the tournament, Kyle Mayers replacing Quintin De kock was an obvious choice as he also bowls well in the Powerplay. But once De kock returned, everyone expected Mayers to be rested. But the management has continued to field Kyle Mayers which is also fine as Kyle Myers has done well with the bat, but has he done that much to make Quinton DeCock sit out is the big question?
PROBABLE XI:
PUNJAB KINGS: P Singh, M Short, A Taide / Shikhar Dhawan, L Livingstone, HS Bhatia, S Curran (C), J Sharma (WK), S Khan, H Brar, R Chahar, A Singh. (IMPACT SUBS: N Ellis & S Dhawan)
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: KL Rahul, K Mayers, D Hooda, N Pooran, M Stoinis, K Pandya, A Badoni, P Mankad, R Bishnoi, A Khan, Naveen Ul Haq (IMPACT SUBS: K Gowtham & A Mishra)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- KL Rahul’s strike rate of 112 and Avg of 37 is his worst in the last 7 seasons.
- Amit Mishra needs 1 more wicket to go past Malinga in the all-time wicket takers list.
- S Dhawan needs 1 more 50 to reach 50 IPL Fifties.
- Shikhar Dhawan needs 23 more runs for 6500 IPL runs.
PITCH & WEATHER REPORT: The average score at this venue is 166 but considering the strength of these two line-ups it might go beyond 180. Both the spinners and seamers have had equal assistance from the pitch
MATCH DETAILS:
TIME – 7:30 PM
DATE – 28th APRIL 2023
VENUE: PCA Stadium, Mohali.
DREAM XI TEAM:
