What does Ekana wicket bring this time, that batting friendly wicket where the home team comfortably chased a big target against CSK or that slow typical Ekana wicket where the home team restricted the Mumbai Indians below 150 and chased down the target with ease? Anyways, whatever the wicket has to offer, the home team Lucknow Super Giants seem to be ready and well equipped for that. They are coming with a great momentum after defeating the defending champions Chennai Super Kings in two back-to-back encounters and defeating another most successful IPL team Mumbai Indians in their last match.
In form Marcus Stoinis has added a great strength to their batting order. With a century against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk and a half century against MI on a slow wicket of Ekana, Marcus Stoinis has played one of the most important roles in LSG holding a strong position on the points table. The skipper KL Rahul is playing with some real intent upfront and he also would have a point to prove to the Indian selection committee after he was not picked in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 world cup. Though the opening partner for the skipper KL Rahul is a huge concern for the team as they dropped Quinton de Kock for Arshin Kulkarni who could only manage to score a duck against Mumbai Indians.
Mayank Yadav's injury has been a huge concern for the team. He has been on and off from the team continuously and was again injured in the last match against Mumbai Indians where he couldn't even complete his quota of four overs. It is highly unlikely that he will be able to play any further game in this year's IPL. Naveen Ul Haq has been doing good work for LSG while Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya have been great in the spin department. Mohshin Khan with the new ball has also been a great addition to the LSG playing 11.
While Kolkata Knight Riders on the other side are on a dream run. When it looked like the team may fall apart after they failed to defend 261 against Punjab Kings in their home ground, they made a great comeback after defeating MI by defending just 169 runs in the home ground of Mumbai Indians where they had not won any match since 2012. The win against Mumbai Indians has been a great confidence booster for the Kolkata Knight Riders and it makes them even more unstoppable. They had a pattern of their openers scoring big and then a bunch of powerful finishers finishing the inning off. But their last match was completely against this template. First they were 57/5 and from there they managed to score 169 without any significant contribution from Andre Russell and Rinku Singh. The form of Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey in the middle order have made KKR an even more dangerous side. Although their fans would really love to see their skipper Shreyas Iyer coming back in form.
The biggest relief in KKR camp after the last match would be Mitchell Starc showing some great form. After constantly going for a huge number of runs, Mitchell Starc had a good game with the ball. Their bowling looked a serious problem after they failed to defend 261 runs against Punjab Kings but they made a great comeback in the last match where they defended 169 runs against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. Sunil Narine as usual has always been a great asset to the bowling and gave away just 22 runs in his quota of 4 overs by picking up important wickets of Rohit Sharma and Nehal Wadhera in his last game against Mumbai Indians.
It's a battle between number 2 and number 3 on the points table. Overall, we can expect a cracker of a game. Lucknow Super Giants has a great chance of bringing KKR equal to them with four defeats each as currently LSG has four defeats and KKR has three. A KKR win on Sunday will lift it to the top of the table, while also damaging LSG’s hopes for a top-two finish. Having already stumbled to the Knight Riders earlier in the season – a resounding eight-wicket defeat in Kolkata – the Super Giants will look to avoid an encore.
Here is the Head to head record:
Since LSG made their IPL debut in IPL 2022, they have featured in only four matches in the competition against the Knights.
While the Super Giants won the first three games in this rivalry, KKR broke the jinx with an eight-wicket triumph earlier in the season.
Probable playing 11:
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Philip Salt (WK), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Impact sub: Anukul Roy.
Lucknow Super Giants:
KL Rahul (C & WK), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ashton Turner, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth.
Impact sub: Quinton de Kock.
Match Details:
Date: May 05, 2024
Time: 7.30 PM IST
Venue: Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Dream 11 Team:
