Overview
At the risk of sounding cruel, these two teams are pretty much where they were last season. Lucknow, who finished fourth in the debut campaign, look like strong contenders for a play-off berth, with a powerful batting line-up and a bowling attack that has both searing pace and artful spin. Punjab, who couldn’t string two consistent performances together last season, have now lost two on the bounce after a promising 2-0 start.
There was much hullaballoo over Liam Livingstone, the English all-rounder, joining the squad before Punjab’s previous game – a defeat to the Gujarat Titans – but Brad Haddin, their assistant coach, has said that they won’t be rushing him back. It could well be next week before Livingstone, whose clean hitting was such a feature of their 2022 season, is part of the XI.
Lucknow will take enormous confidence from the manner in which they overhauled a target of 213 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous game. Nicholas Pooran’s devastating display of power-hitting showed just why the franchise broke the bank to get him, and there was also a vital contribution from Marcus Stoinis. With Kyle Mayers having made a strong start to the season, Quinton de Kock still hasn’t started a game.
Mark Wood and Ravi Bishnoi have led the pace and spin departments with aplomb, even in bat-friendly conditions, and Punjab will have to overcome their dot-ball habit to take this game deep. Having Kagiso Rabada back in the XI certainly strengthens Punjab’s bowling, but they need much more from Rahul Chahar, the leg-spinner who has just two wickets from his four outings.
KL Rahul, the Lucknow captain, has a strike-rate of just 100 for the season, but as long as the team is in the upper reaches of the table, there’s unlikely to be intense scrutiny of his batting woes. Deepak Hooda is another who has yet to fire this season.
Venue and Time
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. 7.30 PM
Expected conditions and toss
You couldn’t have come up with two more different surfaces than the ones the Ekana Stadium has seen in the IPL so far this season. Lucknow romped to 193 in the first game, and then restricted Hyderabad to 121 on a sticky pitch in the second. Even at 7:30, the temperature is likely to be in excess of 36C, though dew is unlikely to be a factor with very little humidity. Given Punjab’s lack of dynamism with the bat so far, Lucknow may well prefer to chase.
Head-to-Head
Lucknow won their only meeting in 2022, with Krunal Pandya, Dushmantha Chameera and the now-injured Mohsin Khan bowling brilliantly to defend a modest total.
Possible XIs and Impact Player Watch
Kyle Mayers may have failed in the last outing, but it’s unlikely that Lucknow will replace him with Quinton de Kock after just one bad game. The man most under threat is perhaps Hooda, who has 35 runs from four innings, and has bowled just one over. Ayush Badoni is one of the Impact Player options, with K Gowtham also having been used in that role.
If Punjab don’t throw Livingstone in, the question is whether they keep faith in Bhanuka Rajapaksa after his go-slow in their last match. If the pitch looks sluggish and spin-friendly, Sikandar Raza could be a good option. Depending on whether they bat or bowl first, Rahul Chahar or Rishi Dhawan might be their Impact Player.
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (C), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Ayush Badoni, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi.
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (C), Matthew Short, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.