Today the 66th match of IPL 15 will be played between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders. The match will be held at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. Lucknow has made it to the top-4 by winning eight games in 13 games. Their net run rate is +0.262.
Kolkata has registered 6 wins out of 13 matches played. Their net run rate is +0.160. This match will be very important for both teams in terms of the playoff. This match will decide whether LSG will finish in the top 2 teams or move down the points table.
LSG vs KKR: Match Preview
Lucknow has lagged in the run chase.
Lucknow Super Giants won their last match while chasing on 7 April. After that every time chasing the target, this team has lost. The pace with which captain KL Rahul was batting in the initial rounds has lost its momentum. Against Rajasthan, Rahul was seen struggling for a single in front of Trent Boult. Later, when he went to attack the famous Krishna, he was given a simple catch.
Unless the captain leads the team in the run chase, the team will not be able to achieve the target. In the last phase of the season, Rahul’s form can become a problem for Lucknow. Apart from Deepak Hooda, the rest of the batsmen are seen struggling to make big scores. If Lucknow has to make it to the top 2, every player will have to contribute.
Kolkata’s internal discord is affecting the performance
Kolkata Knight Riders are so low in the points table due to their wrong strategies. Even if she wins today’s match, she will have to expect Delhi and Bengaluru to lose. Apart from this, your run rate will also have to be better than those teams. This would not have happened, had there not been confusion and controversy between the captain and the team management regarding the selection of the playing XI. The failure of captain Shreyas and coach McCullum also cost KKR heavily.
Internal strife resulted in a lack of consistency in the team’s performance on the field. It was meaningless to expect Andre Russell to win every match. Keeping the world’s number one fast bowler Pat Cummins on the bench for 6 matches was heavy for Kolkata. KKR will try to win the match at the earliest by coming down in front of Lucknow so that its run rate also increases.
KKR Probable XI: Venkatesh Iyer, Baba Indrajith/Sheldon Jackson, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer(c), Sam Billings(w), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy
LSG Probable XI: Quinton de Kock(w), KL Rahul(c), Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni/Manish Pandey, Marcus Stoinis/Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan
