After making a bright start - winning three of their first four matches - Lucknow Super Giants have lost their way a bit with back-to-back defeats. The failure of the top-order batters to make a telling impact played a huge part in the recent losses to Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.
IPL ORANGE CAP | IPL PURPLE CAP | IPL POINTS TABLE
With the tournament nearing the halfway stage, the Lucknow top-order does not have the luxury of time on its side.
Up next for LSG is a challenging home contest against Chennai Super Kings, who are on a high after getting back on track with two consecutive victories.
After smashing back-to-back half-centuries against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, first-choice overseas opener
Quinton de Kock
has lost form - in the last three matches, the southpaw had scores of 10, 19, 6. His opening partner, skipper KL Rahul, vying for a spot in the India T20 World Cup squad, is yet to fire.
Their job isn't going to get any easier against a CSK attack that has the wherewithal to deal with the challenges.
Matheesha Pathirana
has been outstanding so far while Mustafizur Rahman has chipped in with useful contributions.
It is the CSK pace duo's ability to choke the runs that is going to be crucial on a pitch where the scores haven't gone past 200 this season. Another crucial cog in the CSK wheel is
Ravindra Jadeja
, whose left-arm spin is likely to test a wobbly LSG middle-order.
While Lucknow's spin attack has a bit of quality in it with leggie Ravi Bishnoi and left-armer Krunal Pandya leading the line, the fate of the match can well be decided in the first few overs itself, when a relatively inexperienced pace-attack face a marauding Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube.
In a boost for the LSG bowling pack, speedster
Mayank Yadav
, the 'Man of the Match' in their wins over Punjab and Bengaluru, has returned to training.
Gleeson replaces Conway
England pacer
Richard Gleeson
has replaced
Devon Conway
in the CSK squad after the New Zealand opener was ruled out with a thumb injury. It was initially reported that Conway would return to action at the back end of the tournament this season.
English (US) ·