Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants will have to bring their 'A' game forward to win against the formidable Kolkata Knight Riders when both the IPL playoff-bound teams meet here on Sunday.
With a 24-run all-round win over Mumbai Indians to move second-placed KKR to 14 points - one step closer to qualification - the pressure will be on KL Rahul's LSG to find a way to stave off the threat from Shreya Iyer's side.
Lucknow Super Giants are placed third, just one place below KKR, with 1 point from 10 matches with six wins and four losses.
With fourth-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (12 points), followed by dangerous Chennai Super Kings (10 points) and Delhi Capitals (1 point) on the points table, LSG will be under pressure to avoid a mid-table finish. The race for the final four has intensified.LSG were far from confident in their previous encounter at the Ekana Stadium as they had to work hard to chase down a modest target of 145 runs, which Mumbai Indians won by just four wickets in the last over.
Captain Rahul and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis have been the key players for LS and it remains to be seen if veteran South African Quinton de Kock is brought back in place of young Arshin Kulkarni, who opened the innings in the last game.
Even though he has gone without a half-century since the first game, Nicolas Pura has consistently scored important scores, but LSG's overall finishing skills are being questioned after their struggles against Mumbai Indians.
It looked like LSG had made good weather in the end, giving MI the real blow of losing wickets in a hurry and completing their modest target with some wobbles.
Ayush Badoni has had a slow performance this IPL and the uncapped Indian player will be keen to turn around this poor form.LSG's bowlers will also face a tough test and none of them will be able to deliver real performances with individual brilliance in this IPL. LSG is also likely to be without fast bowler Mayank Yadav.
Having lost only three of their 11 matches so far, it has taken something extraordinary to stop KKR in their tracks. CSK used the spin-friendly surface to seal victory in Chepauk, while RR's all-round class helped them oust KKR in a high-scoring thriller.
If anything, KKR's bowling problems were exposed when Punjab Kings achieved their highest IPL target so far against them, but Iyer's team has emerged strongly from that setback with two impressive wins.However, after beating MI on a slow wicket, which exposed their batting weaknesses, KKR will aim to perform better with the bat.
For the second time in this IPL, KKR's batsmen struggled when the ball did not come on to the bat and were forced to change gears to set a strong target.
At one time, KKR's score was 57 runs for five wickets and it was in danger of being out on a nominal score, but Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) saved the team by making a good partnership of 83 runs.
Iyer and Pandey were forced to withstand the pressure, curb their attacking play and create strikes to carve out a path to recovery for their team, before the bowlers did the right thing to ensure a 24-run win.
Teams (from):
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (captain and wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad. Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gautam, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav Arshin Kulkarni.Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Rahmanullah Gurba (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varu Chakraborty. , Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyas Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Saqib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt.
The match will start at 7:30 pm Indian time.
With a 24-run all-round win over Mumbai Indians to move second-placed KKR to 14 points - one step closer to qualification - the pressure will be on KL Rahul's LSG to find a way to stave off the threat from Shreya Iyer's side.
Lucknow Super Giants are placed third, just one place below KKR, with 1 point from 10 matches with six wins and four losses.
With fourth-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (12 points), followed by dangerous Chennai Super Kings (10 points) and Delhi Capitals (1 point) on the points table, LSG will be under pressure to avoid a mid-table finish. The race for the final four has intensified.LSG were far from confident in their previous encounter at the Ekana Stadium as they had to work hard to chase down a modest target of 145 runs, which Mumbai Indians won by just four wickets in the last over.
Captain Rahul and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis have been the key players for LS and it remains to be seen if veteran South African Quinton de Kock is brought back in place of young Arshin Kulkarni, who opened the innings in the last game.
Even though he has gone without a half-century since the first game, Nicolas Pura has consistently scored important scores, but LSG's overall finishing skills are being questioned after their struggles against Mumbai Indians.
It looked like LSG had made good weather in the end, giving MI the real blow of losing wickets in a hurry and completing their modest target with some wobbles.
Ayush Badoni has had a slow performance this IPL and the uncapped Indian player will be keen to turn around this poor form.LSG's bowlers will also face a tough test and none of them will be able to deliver real performances with individual brilliance in this IPL. LSG is also likely to be without fast bowler Mayank Yadav.
Having lost only three of their 11 matches so far, it has taken something extraordinary to stop KKR in their tracks. CSK used the spin-friendly surface to seal victory in Chepauk, while RR's all-round class helped them oust KKR in a high-scoring thriller.
If anything, KKR's bowling problems were exposed when Punjab Kings achieved their highest IPL target so far against them, but Iyer's team has emerged strongly from that setback with two impressive wins.However, after beating MI on a slow wicket, which exposed their batting weaknesses, KKR will aim to perform better with the bat.
For the second time in this IPL, KKR's batsmen struggled when the ball did not come on to the bat and were forced to change gears to set a strong target.
At one time, KKR's score was 57 runs for five wickets and it was in danger of being out on a nominal score, but Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) saved the team by making a good partnership of 83 runs.
Iyer and Pandey were forced to withstand the pressure, curb their attacking play and create strikes to carve out a path to recovery for their team, before the bowlers did the right thing to ensure a 24-run win.
Teams (from):
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (captain and wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad. Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gautam, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav Arshin Kulkarni.Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Rahmanullah Gurba (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varu Chakraborty. , Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyas Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Saqib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt.
The match will start at 7:30 pm Indian time.
