IPL 2023 readies for neck-to-neck fight between SRH and LSG in Lucknow

After winning the first match against Delhi Capitals and then losing the second to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai, KL Rahul's Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) would look to get back on the winning track on home ground, Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on the other hand, had a forgettable outing in their first match of the IPL 2023 after losing the match to Rajasthan Royals by a huge 72 runs. 

Bhuveshkar Kumar’s poor captaincy and the team’s dismal batting let SRH surrender at 131/8 while chasing a target of 203.

But Aiden Markram will be back as the captain of the team and things might see a turnaround, as SRH squad too has some big names in its squad.

Who are the key players in Lucknow? 

Even though LSG lost the bout to CSK while chasing a target of 218, its batters Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis and Ayush Badoni made sure that the team made a good fight.

A big plus point for LSG in the tournament is the emergence of Kyle Mayers as a top-notch all-rounder who could get quick runs in the power play as an opener and the one who could also bowl those medium pace deliveries in the middle overs.

But Quinton De Kock's return to the Lucknow side will make things a bit tricky for the skipper, who has to accommodate both the batters in the Playing XI now.

Similarly, another star purchase of LSG, Nicholas Pooran, who came in for a shocking Rs 16 crore, seems to be doing justice to that hefty price tag.

Pooran, coming down the lower middle order, has played quick innings of over 30 runs in both the matches against DC and CSK. In the last match against CSK, Pooran, scored 36 off 21 balls, which included 3 sixes and 2 fours.

While chasing, Lucknow has deep batting with the likes of Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran and Krishnappa Gowtham at the end.

On the bowling front, England pacer Mark Wood is doing well for LSG as he has 8 scalps in just the two matches that he has played till now, including a fifer against DC in the first match.

Supporting him is leg-break bowler Ravi Bishnoi, who too has five wickets in two matches. The two are good at picking up wickets at regular intervals for the team.

The strength of SRH

Though SRH might have lost the last match against RR, it still has a bouquet of talent in the team that can win any number of matches.

Today, eyes will primarily be on England batter Harry Brook who was acquired by SRH at a whopping price of Rs 13.25 crore in the auctions. Brook failed with the bat in the last match, after scoring 13 runs and getting bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal.

Mayank Agarwal, former Punjab Kings captain, is another star purchase of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rs 8.25 crore, who would be expected to deliver today.

The core middle order batting strength of SRH comprises five players in the team: Skipper Aiden Markram, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi and Heinrich Klassen.

South African all-rounder Marco Jansen is another great buy of SRH at Rs 4.20 crore; however, he did not play the last match against RR. And if he plays this match as an Impact Player, SRH will have a deep batting like LSG.

On paper, SRH has a good number of players as the bowling unit too comprises good pacers like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and young Jammu speedster Umran Malik.

Though SRH might have got things wrong in the last match, with the current team set-up, it is most likely to bounce back in tonight’s match against LSG.

Pitch report

Since not many matches have been played on Lucknow’s Ekana pitch, it’s difficult to predict what tonight's game will be like.

However, going by the number of matches played on this pitch, it looks like a batting surface with a little bit of aid to spinners like we saw in the last match when Ravi Bishnoi got 4 wickets against Delhi Capitals.

A total above 190 would be considered defendable on this track.

Probable Playing XI

LSG: Quinton de Kock (wk), Kyle Mayers, KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur.

SRH: Heinrich Klassen, Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c ), Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Abdul Samad, Adil Rashid, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik.

Overall, both the teams have good players in their squad and the match can go either way; even though it's Lucknow’s home ground, SRH have it in their squad to emerge as winners.