The high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were yanked down by their first loss in their last match away to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. As the Purple and Gold brigade return home for their second home game at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, they will hope to get back to the winning ways against a down Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
The game will see mentor Gautam Gambhir, who left Lucknow to return to Kolkata, come up against his former side.
KKR comfortably sit second on the points table, credit their first three wins on the trot. On the other hand, LSG have slipped to fourth with an uncharacteristic loss to Delhi Capitals on Friday. Both teams have six points in their kitties and come into the match having lost their previous.
The last time the two teams faced off, LSG sported a Mohun Bagan-inspired Green and Maroon jersey, which garnered a lot of support in the stands for the away team. This will sport it again when they lock horns with the hosts on Sunday afternoon.
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KKR Team News
The opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine has been a revelation for KKR and the introduction of Angkrish Raghuvanshi has been a catalytic addition to their explosive line-up. The three have been the backbone of their batting and KKR’s fortunes rest on them giving them a strong start. Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer and Ramandeep Singh have scored runs but their strike-rate needs improvement. Rinku Singh and Andre Russell do provide the firepower for a strong finish but the duo will be hoping to face more deliveries to leave a better impact.
Vaibhav Arora stepped up in Harshit Rana’s absence with the latter seen bowling in the nets on the eve of the match. The spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy has managed to stem the flow of runs in the middle overs. The big buy of Mitchell Starc has yet to yield the desired results with the new ball but the Aussie speedster has been coming into his own in recent games.
KKR Playing XI vs LSG
Phil Salt (WK), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma (SUB)
LSG Team News
Lucknow have been blowing hot and cold in the season so far, indicating a need for more consistent performances from their stars. KL Rahul, at the top of the order, has scored runs but as he highlighted after their loss to DC, they were short on runs. Their gung-ho approach has misfired on occasions and meant more pressure on their bowlers when their batters fail.
Injury to Mayank Yadav has robbed the LSG attack of their bite with the new ball as apart from Ravi Bishnoi, most bowlers have leaked a lot of runs.
LSG Playing XI vs KKR
Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (C/WK), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Arshad Khan
KKR vs LSG Pitch Report
The pitch was thought to be returning to that of years past which aided spinners but has generally looked like a batting paradise, akin to recent seasons. Being a day game, dew may not play a huge part in the proceedings but the sultry heat in Kolkata will surely have its effect.
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