Great opportunity for LSG to get out of the mid-table muddle

This home game against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 5 (Sunday) will provide Lucknow Super Giants with an opportunity to get out of the mid-table muddle and take one step closer to a spot in the playoffs of the Indian Premier League 2024. 

LSG have won six of their 10 encounters so far and will face a side that has been firing on all cylinders. Meanwhile, a win for KKR would put them in a position where they can think of progressing further as one of the top-two sides in the points table.

LSG vs KKR Head-to-Head

Overall - Games 4 | LSG 3 | KKR 1 

In Lucknow - Games 0

Venue details

The Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow has hosted six games so far this season, and the batters here have operated at an average of 30.1 and a scoring rate of 8.7. At the same time, a wicket has fallen every 20.7 deliveries. 

Only once did a team fail to cross the 160-run mark in the first five games. However, the last match played here was a low-scoring affair. Mumbai Indians could only score 144, and it took LSG 19.2 overs to chase the target. The surfaces have started to slow down, and both teams have enough quality spinners to take advantage of that. 

Weather forecast

It will be hot in Lucknow, with no chance of rain. The temperature is expected to be around 32-36 degrees Celsius, and the humidity will be in the range of 20-26%.

Things to watch out for

Starc is back; hopefully, Rinku will be too

Kolkata defeated Mumbai Indians at Wankhede after 12 years, but they would be more excited about Mitchell Starc returning to form. Having struggled throughout the tournament, the left-arm paceman made a statement against Hardik Pandya and his men, picking up 4/33. Now that Starc is back, KKR would hope that Rinku Singh finds his rhythm too.

The left-handed finisher was unfortunately left out of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, so it’s understandable why he wasn’t at his best against Mumbai. This season, Rinku has scored 182 runs in nine innings at an average of 18.85 and a strike rate of 146.66. Even in the games where he has come out to bat before the final phase, Rinku hasn’t done much. If he finds his form, it’s going to be really tough to stop KKR.

Stoinis could find it tough against KKR spinners

The big man from Australia has scored 186 runs in the last three innings at a strike rate of 166, including a century and a fifty. Marcus Stoinis, however, could have a tough time against Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. The batter has an average of 105 and an SR of 162 against pace this season, but those numbers drop to 17.7 and 136 against spin. Six of his eight dismissals this year have come against spin.

Probable XIs

LSG - KL Rahul (c & wk), Arshin Kulkarni (IP), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ashton Turner, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur (IP)

KKR - Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (IP), Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora (IP), Varun Chakaravarthy 

Telecast and streaming details

The match will be live on Star Sports Network and live-streamed on Jio Cinema. The game will start at 7:30 PM, with the toss happening at 7 PM.

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