The 54th match of the tournament between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The match between them will start at 7:30 P.M. (IST).
In their previous meet a one sided domination was seen by Kolkata where Phil Salt’s ravishing hitting blows the Lucknow while chasing.
Teams Analysis:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
They are inching close to reserve their seat into the playoffs. In 10 matches they won 7 and lost 3. They are currently in 2nd position with 14 points. Their batting was brilliant from the start of the season and their bowling was a little weak in comparison too. But in the last two matches they came up with a brilliant bowling lineup and shook the opposition with their brilliant tactics.
Sunil Narine the MVP of the team has been brilliant in both the departments. He is the only player in this season of IPL who is in the top 10 in both batting and bowling. With his batting he scored 380 runs with a fantastic strike rate of 179.25 in which he hit one century and two half-centuries. In his bowling he is topping for the team in the wicket department with 13 wickets to his name with an economy of 6.72.
Phil Salt on the other hand has been the team’s leading run scorer with 397 runs to his credit. He has a blasting strike rate of 180.45 and has hit 4 half-centuries to his name. His best also came against LSG where he scored unbeaten 89 runs in 47 balls and took the match single handedly. Skipper Shreyas Iyer has been little consistent in the past few matches after scoring 257 runs.
Venkatesh Iyer played a superb knock of 70 runs against MI in the last match, due to which they were able to post a defendable total. He has 224 runs till now in which he gets past 50+ twice. The beast Andre Russell has scored 186 runs with a strike rate of 189.80 in which he scored a single half-century and that came against SRH, which was their first match of the season. With the ball he got 11 wickets and gave his team a balanced bowling lineup in the middle overs.
Rinku Singh is looking a little out of touch as he is unable to put scores on the board. Manish Pandey on the other hand played his first match of this season against MI and added valuable 42 runs to the team.
Mitchell Starc, the costliest player in the history of IPL, proved his worth in the last match where he grabbed 4 wickets and took his team to the victory. He is mostly expensive in his spells due to which his economy reached 11.4 in 9 matches. Varun Chakaravarthy also looked good in the last couple of matches as he got 5 wickets there. Till now he has taken 13 wickets and looked more aggressive in his spells.
Other pacers Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora both are contributing well in the wicket department. Harshit got 11 wickets while Vaibhav has taken 9 wickets till now. Harshit didn’t play the last match due to the ban but will be available for this match.
Probable playing 11 for the match:
Shreyas Iyer ©, Sunil Narine, Phil Salt (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
(Impact Player: Anukul Roy/Manish Pandey)
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG):
They are in strong contention for the playoffs but for that they have to maintain the continuity in the winning. They are currently 3rd in the points table with 12 points in 10 matches, where they won 6 and lost 4. Their batting is much more balanced than their bowling and to be in the top 4 they need to strengthen their bowling.
Skipper KL Rahul has been leading in the batting department for the team with 406 runs in 10 matches. His strike rate also improved and is 142.96 with three fifties to his name. He has been constantly providing runs in the last few matches. Quinton de Kock didn’t play the last match due to injury, and might make his comeback in this match. He also scored three 50+ knocks but was little disappointed in the last few innings.
Marcus Stoinis slowly but marked his way for the team with his significant power hitting and is currently 2nd in the list for the team in the runs making. He scored 316 runs and also grabbed 4 wickets till now. Till now he got one century and two half-centuries and all of them came in the winning cause. Nicholas Pooran has been constant with his destructive batting. Till the time he was there in the crease, it looked like an easy win for the team. He has a strike rate of 160.53 and has 305 runs scored.
Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda have provided some valuable knocks in one match respectively. Badoni against DC while Hooda against RR.
Bowling has been their main problem in the second half of the season. Their star pacer Mayank Yadav has returned in the last match but was unable to complete his spell due to little pain. He currently has 7 wickets to his name. Yash Thakur led the team in the wickets department as he got 10 wickets till now but his economy is on the higher side which is 10.72.
Naveen-ul-Haq got 7 wickets while Mohsin Khan got 9 wickets till now. Krunal Pandya has been brilliant in terms of economy which is 7.2 and has taken 5 wickets while Ravi Bishnoi got 6 wickets.
Probably playing 11 for the Match:
KL Rahul (c/wk), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur.
(Impact Player: Mayank Yadav)
Head to Head (LSG vs KKR):
They played 4 matches against each other.
| LSG | KKR | |
| won | 3 | 1 |
| Highest score | 210 | 208 |
| Lowest score | 161 | 101 |
Pitch Report:
The match will be played at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. It will be the last match for LSG in their home ground. Here the pitch is favourable for both batters and bowlers. But in the last four matches here, the chasing team won all that while in the starting two matches the defending team has won.
Weather Report:
The weather will be a full hot and sunny day as the temperature will touch 42 degree celsius in the daytime and at night it will drop down to 26 degree celsius. Humidity will be less which is approximately less than 20%.
Best 11 for the Match:
KL Rahul, Nicholas Pooran, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav.