The battlefield is at the penultimate stages and the race to the top 4 spots is heating up big time. Everyone are hooked to their results and are fighting tooth and nail to secure their spots for the ultimate show. Two such teams, one who was downplayed for the team selected during the auction and the other being bombarded with trolls after the auctions are going to face their ultimate test. Let’s get into the preview of KKR vs LSG.
Overview:
Lucknow Super Giants: The Giants from the city of Lucknow, who were downplayed, are now in the position of qualifying into the playoffs in their debut season albeit some extremely tellable and exciting performances in the ongoing Tata IPL 2022 and are vying for the top 2 spots to earn a ticket to the Qualifier 1. The team’s DNA lies in their mentor, Gautam Gambhir, one of the undisputed heroes of the Indian cricket, who managed to assemble a team of match winners on a particular and has made the work of KL Rahul easy on the field. Also, an appreciation to KL Rahul on improving his captaincy post the Punjab Kings saga of captaincy. Despite being in a good position, The Super Giants hiccupped at crucial places and are now looking to bring their best to finish atop.
Kolkata Knight Riders: The Knights have been having a topsy turvy ride in this edition of the IPL with their costliest buys not performing to the situation at times and the middle order serving as a savior for most of the times. Andre Russell’s exploits last match with the bat and ball helped the Knights to get into a decent position but this would be another crucial match where the guns has to blazing in all directions to ensure the Knights book a ticket for the playoffs.
Probable Playing XI:
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Baba Indrajith / Sheldon Jackson, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sam Billings (WK), Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy.
Pitch / Weather Report:
It will be the last game of the season at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy. The pitch is expected to remain dry as we saw in the last game here and spinners might play a key role. The team winning the toss might look to bowl.
Venue: Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
Date & Time: May 18th at 7:30 PM IST and local time
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar
Playoffs Calculation:
KKR Scenarios to Better DC's NRR:
If KKR is defending, they needs to win the match by approx 30-35 Runs (Ex: if they hit 180 batting First, they must bowl out LSG within 150)
If KKR is Chasing, they must chase down within approx 16-17 Overs (Ex: if LSG scores 180, they must chase it down by 16.4).
LSG’s chances to playoffs:
If LSG wants to finish in Top 2, they must better GT's NRR because if RR have a match left, so going above RR won’t be enough.
If LSG is Defending, they must win by apprx 40-45 Runs (Ex: If they score 180, they must bowl out KKR for 138)
If LSG is chasing, they must chase down the Total in appx 15 overs (Ex: if KKR Scores 180, they must chase it down within 15 overs)
Interesting Facts:
- Nitish Rana vs Avesh Khan:
- Nitish Rana has stepped when it mattered the most for the franchise and has delivered the deliverables. He is the third highest run getter for the franchise hitting 319 runs at a strike rate of 139.3 and an average of 26.5. On the other hand, Avesh Khan has picked 17 wickets at an average of 18.35. In the matchup between these two, Avesh has dismissed Rana twice giving away just 9 runs.
- KL Rahul vs Umesh Yadav:
- KL Rahul has been donning the helmet and providing impetus to the performance for the franchise and has been the man to lead properly in batting. He has amassed 383 runs in 11 innings against the Knights (for SRH, RCB and PBKS) and would continue to perform even better. On the other hand, Umesh Yadav has been the dragon to watch out for. He has been spitting fire in the powerplay picking 8 wickets and would want to continue to break the shackles of the opponent’s opening batters.
- KL Rahul has been donning the helmet and providing impetus to the performance for the franchise and has been the man to lead properly in batting. He has amassed 383 runs in 11 innings against the Knights (for SRH, RCB and PBKS) and would continue to perform even better. On the other hand, Umesh Yadav has been the dragon to watch out for. He has been spitting fire in the powerplay picking 8 wickets and would want to continue to break the shackles of the opponent’s opening batters.
- Deepak Hooda vs Sunil Narine:
- Deepak Hooda has been the trustworthy soldier for his captain KL Rahul and has been delivering the goods when it mattered the most. Hooda played a crucial innings of 59 from 39 balls but couldn’t have his team reach the finish line last game. He would face a stern test against Sunil Narine who had dismissed Hooda once and Hooda had batted against him with a strike rate of 66.67.
- Deepak Hooda has been the trustworthy soldier for his captain KL Rahul and has been delivering the goods when it mattered the most. Hooda played a crucial innings of 59 from 39 balls but couldn’t have his team reach the finish line last game. He would face a stern test against Sunil Narine who had dismissed Hooda once and Hooda had batted against him with a strike rate of 66.67.
- If KKR reaches the Playoffs, Narine would be bowling for the 400th time in T20s when he take the bowl in the Eliminator.
- Narine (2976) needs 24 runs to complete 3000 T20 Runs.
- 100th T20 for Dusmantha Chameera.
- Dushmantha Chameera (98) needs 2 wickets to complete 100 T20 Wickets.
- Krunal Pandya (1936) needs 64 Runs to complete 2000 T20 Runs.
- During his 27 Against Royals, Marcus Stoinis completed 4000 T20 Runs.
- LSG is the only team to have 2 Batsmen in top 5 Runs scorers this season, KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda ,while KKR is the only side to have no batter in the Top 15 of the list.
- Andre Russell (1972) Needs 28 Runs to complete 2000 Runs for KKR
Dream 11 Team:
