Two matches played, won one and lost the other. That’s the short record of new franchise Lucknow Super Giants in this IPL edition, going into Monday’s game at the DY Patil Stadium against Sunrisers Hyderabad, who come off a loss in their opener against Rajasthan Royals at Pune. LSG commenced their campaign with a five-wicket loss to the other new franchise, Gujarat Titans, at the Wankhede Stadium on March 28. But they then regrouped quickly to stun defending champions Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in a high-scoring contest at the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium three days later.
Big chase
Both the matches involving LSG were won by teams batting second, with the Lucknow team itself chasing down the 211 target set by CSK thanks to a late-order assault by West Indian Evin Lewis, who cracked a blistering 23-ball 55 not out. Captain KL Rahul and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock had laid a solid opening foundation which Lewis later thrived on to power LSG past the finish line. That display, as also the potential shown by young recruit Ayush Badoni in the first game, show that the Lucknow outfit possess batting ability to overhaul tall totals. Their bowling has been a mixed bag, exemplified by Dushmantha Chameera’s expensive display against CSK after an eye-catching show against GT. With Avesh Khan, who can be expensive at times, and Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya also in the ranks, the attack looks quite capable if there is some purchase from the track. The likely availability of West Indian Jason Holder for this game will beef up the bowling.
Burden on skipper Kane
SRH, on the other hand, look a bit down on the batting front after losing their former captain David Warner at the auction. Too much burden has fallen on current captain Kane Williamson, who needs adequate support from the likes of Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, from the overseas list of players. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leader of the bowling attack and is a vastly experienced customer, who also needs back up from the likes of T Natarajan and Washington Sundar both of whom were expensive against RR. SRH, who played their opener on March 29, must be waiting for the availability of lanky South Africa left arm pacer Marco Jansen to strengthen their bowling attack.
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