LSG at home away from home as they take on KKR at Eden Gardens
Written by I Dig Sports
Match details
Kolkata Knight Riders (2nd; W3 L1) vs Lucknow Super Giants (4th; W3 L2)
Kolkata, 3.30pm IST (10am GMT)
Big picture - KKR's home run
Which IPL team has their headquarters only six kilometres from Eden Gardens? If you're thinking Kolkata Knight Riders, that's wrong.
That honour belongs to Lucknow Super Giants, whose owners are based in Kolkata. They have a majority stake in another local team with a strong fan base - Mohun Bagan - and the last time they played at Eden Gardens, LSG turned out sporting that football team's iconic maroon, leaving local KKR fans split over who to root for.
KKR had their first defeat of the season in their previous game, against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai. But like LSG, KKR are also in a comfortable position, just two points behind table-toppers Rajasthan Royals and with a game in hand. In the first leg of the schedule, they had three away games and won two of those. The quirk of scheduling in an election year now sees them based at home for their next five fixtures, which means, if they can exert dominance at home the way CSK, Mumbai Indians or Gujarat Titans do, they could have one foot in the playoffs by the end of it.
Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders: LWWW (IPL 2024; most recent matches first)
Lucknow Super Giants: LWWWL
Team news and Impact Player strategy
Kolkata Knight Riders
Likely XII: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 6 Ramandeep Singh/Nitish Rana, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Rinku Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Vaibhav Arora/Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Suyash Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants
Likely XII: 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 3 Devdutt Padikkal/Prerak Mankad, 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Arshad Khan, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Yash Thakur, 12 M Siddharth
In the spotlight - Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul
Stats that matter
- Mitchell Starc has dismissed Nicholas Pooran twice in four innings. However, Pooran has dominated Andre Russell, hitting him for 105 runs in 69 balls, and Varun Chakravarthy, striking 51 runs in 29 balls.
- Should KKR bat Russell higher? Since IPL 2018, his entry point has not made much difference to his strike rate. It is 182.2 when entering after the 14th over, and 177.6 when he comes in before the tenth, and 173.3 when he comes in between overs 10 and 14.
- Bishnoi loves facing KKR. His nine wickets are his highest against any team, and he has a favourable average (19.2) and economy (6.40) too.
Pitch and conditions
With an afternoon start and temperatures expected to cross 35C at the time of the toss, fielding in the first innings will be excruciating. However, chasing could still be the preference as historical numbers suggest, in addition to the possibility of drizzle in the evening. Expect lots of runs.
Quotes
"They know me as well (smiles). First of all, everyone knows each other very well. It's more about how we play for three and a half hours in the field is more important. It is not like I will plan something different for them. Even they know quite a lot about me. I have planned against KKR for the last two seasons so it's probably even-stevens. It's the best team that wins not the team that plans best."
KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir says his past role at LSG does not give KKR any edge
"He [Mayank] is feeling good. He looks good but we do not want to rush him. We need to protect his body. But he's itching to go. Need to make sure that he is 100% fit before he comes back."
LSG captain KL Rahul gave an update on his fast bowler after the Capitals game
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
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