Preview by Ghcalive Staff
To equal the team in second place’s total number of victories, the eighth-place squad needs one more victory. The IPL’s margins are captured by this. While each club still has one game remaining, LSG, which is now ranked third, has seven victories, while KKR, which is placed seventh, has six triumphs. However, the two sides have taken quite different routes.
Despite having a difficult time with injuries, LSG has managed to win a number of games that were quite close. They have committed some heinous crimes off the pitch. They’ve consistently remained in the top four despite going undetected, similar to a persistent accumulator in fifty-over cricket.
They first had a captain who was horribly out of shape, but he was subsequently wounded and had to be replaced. Their starting XI hasn’t shown a lot of consistency. However, players have responded when needed. Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran most recently discreetly dug Ws out of their graves in the batting department.
Although their bowling hasn’t been particularly remarkable during the tournament, it has been reliable and most definitely hasn’t been a liability. When that has happened, the LSG hitters have come through to finish the job and make up for any mistakes.
The side of the wooden spoon that faced KKR was chosen. Despite the team they possessed, even their finest players had limits. The rest of the world had no idea that the two-time champions would become legendary scrappers who unearthed fresh stars. Shardul Thakur was exclusively responsible for their first triumph, which Rinku Singh secured by accomplishing the seemingly impossible.
KKR eventually discovered it: consistency in their batting, led by Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh, and the talent of Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer up top, who have blown hot and cold but raised their hands when necessary. Since then, they have learned that one-man performances couldn’t carry them to the title. Their bowling also recovered its lost glitter as a result of their spinners surpassing CSK in their own game, at their own crease, last weekend.
In this case, neither the data nor the rankings provide a whole picture. While KKR is making progress towards pulling off their own miracle, LSG has slowly advanced to the top and is almost certain to qualify. Their own story of the underdog. Obviously, if fate permits.
When: Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Lucknow Super Giants, Saturday, May 20, 7:30PM IST
Where: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
What to anticipate: The Eden features a traditional true surface where the bowlers typically have a chance to recover in the middle overs, but the batsmen are likely to dominating the powerplay and death overs.
In recent times, the KKR spin three of Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy, and Sunil Narine have rediscovered how to bowl at the Eden, since the playing surfaces have held up rather well overall. With their economical bowling at the Eden, they have begun to make a difference by pressuring the batsmen into making mistakes with their strokes and losing their wickets.
Head to Head: LSG have won both their games against KKR.
Team Watch
Kolkata Knight Riders
Strategies and opposition: As seen by their combined 4 dismissals in 20 balls for just 8 runs, Marcus Stoinis and Deepak Hooda had trouble reading Andre Russell’s variations. Only one out of every four LSG hitters—Deepak Hooda—has more than 100 strikes against Sunil Narine, who has also avoided them.
Probable XII: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy
Lucknow Super Giants:
What to anticipate: Against Kolkata Knight Riders, Quinton de Kock had a 152 strike rate and a 37 average, including a stunning 70-ball 140* against them in the 2022 season, one of the greatest IPL performances.
Despite the fact that recency bias applies in this instance, de Kock’s average against KKR drops to a pitiful 21 without this blow. De Kock does, however, have certain KKR bowlers he targets; he hits at 100 and 126 against Narine and Chakravarthy respectively, but more than makes up for it against Russell and Shardul with 89 off 37 at 240 against Russell and 44 off 31 at 142 against Shardul.
Probable XII: Quinton de Kock (w), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Prerak Mankad, Krunal Pandya (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Swapnil Singh, Mohsin Khan
What they said:
“I hope no one suffers the same harm that I did. My family and the support staff were really helpful, and my arteries and nerves got clogged. I struggled throughout the treatment and thought I would never be able to play cricket again since I couldn’t raise or straighten my hand. Since doctors warned that they could have had to amputate my hand if we had waited another month, I’m really glad that I can play and I want to keep helping my team. LSG’s Mohsin Khan discusses his history with injuries and his comeback to defeat MI by 11 runs in the final over.
“What I admire about Narine is how confident he is in his skills, and after playing in similar situations again, I believe he understands what went wrong. His understanding and game planning are the main topics of conversation. In recent games, he has been studying his bowling pace and comparing it to his best while experimenting with different angles. It’s amazing that he recovered well at such a critical moment for us.According to assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, Sunil Narine, who is back in form after a game-winning effort against CSK, is the buzz of the KKR team.
Squads:
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Deepak Hooda, Prerak Mankad, Krunal Pandya(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Swapnil Singh, Mohsin Khan, Kyle Mayers, Yash Thakur, Krishnappa Gowtham, Daniel Sams, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Amit Mishra, Karun Nair, Manan Vohra, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Romario Shepherd, Arpit Guleria, Suryansh Shedge, Karan Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Jason Roy, Nitish Rana(c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, N Jagadeesan, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Mandeep Singh, Johnson Charles, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aarya Desai
Check Here:-Who will prevail in the IPL game between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants
