Kolkata Knight Rider and Lucknow Super Giants will face each other in the 21st encounter of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) on 8th March at Eden Gardens.
Match Preview:
KKR, who have won the title three times, have had a mixed start to their title defense, suffering losses to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. However, they bounced back with victories over Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora playing key roles in their dominant 80-run win against the 2024 finalists.
In the last game, Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh adapted well to the pitch, so the team will be hoping they can replicate those performances in the upcoming match as well.
All eyes will be on Quinton de Kock, who smashed an unbeaten 97 against Rajasthan Royals but has struggled to score in single digits since. KKR may consider replacing him with Rahmanullah Gurbaz if de Kock fails to put up the expected show.
On the other hand, Lucknow Super Giants have had a solid start to the season, winning two out of their first four matches. Their latest win came against the five-time champions, Mumbai Indians, where a blistering 31-ball 60 from Mitchell Marsh helped them post a total over 200.
During Mumbai’s chase, Digvesh Singh delivered an economical spell of 1/21, restricting them to 191/5 and securing a 12-run victory. LSG will be looking to continue their winning momentum and replicate their strong performance against KKR on Tuesday.
Nicholas Pooran will be a key player for LSG. He has been in exceptional form and is already the leading run-scorer of the tournament. Pooran also boasts the best strike-rate (209) against spin since IPL 2024. If he can tackle KKR’s spinners, LSG will be the strong favorites to win the contest.
Probable Playing XIIS:
KKR: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Moeen Ali, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Vaibhav Arora, 12 Varun Chakravarthy
LSG: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 David Miller, 7 Abdul Samad/Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Akash Deep, 11 Digvesh Rathi, 12 Ravi Bishnoi
Pitch and weather report:
One can anticipate similar circumstances for the forthcoming LSG match as the ground was sticky and had parts of bare surface the last time.
Although temperatures are predicted to start at about 33 degrees, dew is not likely to play a role in the second innings, which could affect the decision to toss.
Head-to-head record:
KKR and LSG have faced off five times in the IPL so far, with LSG leading the head-to-head 3-2.
Prediction:
Given the recent performances and in form batters, LSG are expected to win the upcoming encounter of the tournament.
Where to Watch:
India: Star Sports Network, JioHotstar
Australia: Kayo TV, FoxTel Go
Bangladesh: T Sports, Toffee app
New Zealand: Sky Sports NZ
South Africa: SuperSport
Sri Lanka: Dialog
UK: Sky Sports, SkyGo
USA: Willow TV
Afghanistan: ATN
MENA: Cricbuzz
