Lucknow Super Giants had a wonderful tournament last season, after 11 games they had won most matches but only they finished third in the tournament. KL Rahul is a genuine captain, never flustered or puts his own men under pressure.
This will be the first time when Lucknow Super Giants will have the opportunity to play home games, but how the pitch will behave is still a thing to unfold in the third match of the tournament.
KL Rahul means consistency, in every season, he comes and amasses at least 450 runs. His opening partner will not play the first game due to national duty, but he just scored century in 43 balls against West Indies so LSG are seriously a threatening side.
LSG has suffered a big loss with Mohsin Khan being out of the tournament, last season, he remained a game changer for the team, taking 14 wickets in 9 games with a Ecom under 6. However, a high quality of pace has been reinforced in form of Mark Wood who is unplayable at his best.
Also, with Marcus Stoinis and Kyle Mayers, LSG has clear cut match winners. So, it will be a good tour for them if only then can click together.
Match: Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, Lucknow
Delhi Capitals will miss Rishabh Pant for sure. But with experienced David Warner in fitted role alongside inform Mitchell Marsh will be a good hit. Last year when these two teams came head to head, LSG came out victorious at both occasions.
DC will have an aggressive and dangerous top five that includes four international players including Rilee Rossouw, David Warner, and Rovman Powell. Sarfaraz Khan is anticipated to grab the gloves.
The batting order hasn’t been revealed, but Mitchell Marsh has recently made a compelling case to bat first in lieu of David Warner, who may slip to third on his comeback to cricket.
With to Warner’s and Prithvi Shaw’s scorching powerplay strike rates of 9.24 and 9.04, respectively, plus Rovman Powell’s stunning 22 sixes, Delhi had the quickest overall run rate (8.88rpo) of all the teams last year.
Every year, Powell’s game improves, and it will be especially interesting to watch what sort of leadership he exhibits now that he has been named the new West Indies T20I captain in preparation for their home World Cup in 2024.
They have also had to make preparations to start their bowling season without Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and Mustafizur Rahman because they would all be playing for their respective nations.
- Delhi Capitals has better powerplay record that Lucknow Super Giants
- Contrarily, Lucknow had the highest opening partnership 10 times against Delhi’s four, even though Quinton de Kock was at the top of the list.
- Axar Patel, who averaged 53 with the ball in 2023, failed to pick up a wicket in nine of of his 13 IPL bowling innings last season, including both against Lucknow.
- Together with colleagues Rahul and de Kock, Deepak Hooda was one of eight players to score at least four times for fifty runs or more during the 2022 IPL.
- In eight powerplay overs in 2022, Krunal Pandya only managed to claim one wicket, doing so with an economy rate of 10.37 rpo and an average of 83.00.