Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore will face each other in the 70th and the last league match of this Indian Premier League season on 27th May at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
Match Preview:
It will be the last game before the real and final stage of the IPL begins. It might not have a greater impact on LSG but RCB it’s all important game.
If RCB win this game, they will qualify for the top-two spots meaning they will have a two chance to qualify for the final. Last year, RCB qualified for the playoffs but was eliminated by the Rajasthan Royals. So, this time the side will look to seal the top-two spot and finally get closer to lifting up the maiden IPL Trophy.
RCB looks pretty decent moving towards the final stage of the tournament. However, they will have to play without the talented hard-hitter Tim David who got injured during the practice session.
Nevertheless, the side would be happy to see Josh Hazlewood back in the town as he has completed his rehab and will look to join the squad again before the all-important encounter.
Talking about the LSG, they will be praying for pride and if anything they would look to spoil the party for RCB as they did it with Gujarat Titans where Mitchell Marsh hit a century and ruined a near-perfect season for the Titans.
There are some good signs for LSG which probably help them to win this upcoming game before their home crowd. Nicholas Pooran is back among runs, Rishabh Pant finds himself among some runs, and the pacer Will O’Rourke has made great impact ever since replacing the injured Mayank Yadav.
If anything, RCB would give it all to make it the top-two position and face Punjab Kings in the Qualifier one of the season on 29th May.
Probable Playing XIIs:
Lucknow Super Giants: 1 Matthew Breetzke/Aiden Markram, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Himmat Singh, 8 Digvesh Rathi, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Akash Deep, 11 Will O’Rourke, 12 Akash Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma
Pitch and weather report:
Red and black soil, which typically helps the hitters, will be used for Lucknow’s season-ending match. MS Dhoni quietly completed the chase for the visitors when LSG was down to 166 against CSK in the previous meeting played on the same surface.
Tuesday is expected to be extremely hot, with highs of around 36°C and muggy conditions. Thankfully, there won’t be any rain predicted.
Head-to-head record:
In the five IPL meetings between RCB and LSG, RCB has won three and LSG has won two.
Prediction:
It is hard enough to predict who is going to win but RCB has a greater chance to win given how they have played a great brand of cricket throughout and the return of Josh will also give them some hope and boost.
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
