Lucknow Super Giants will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 61st game of the ongoing IPL season on 19th May at Uttar Pradesh.
Match Preview:
It will be a competition between two sides who are facing different fortunes as the IPL group stage inches closer to an end. Lucknow, at one hand, still is in the race to qualify for the next round, whereas Sunrisers will try not to finish last in the group stage.
It will be a deciding game for Lucknow as if they lose this upcoming encounter they would lose the race for qualifying. Nevertheless, they will have to win all of their remaining and would need help from other teams as well to qualify.
Even if Lucknow wins, the side has been dealing with many issues. The main and major concern is the form of the captain Rishabh Pant who is yet to fire in this ongoing league. Besides him, David Miller is yet to find his groove who was once a match winner for the Gujarat Titans.
The bowling department has also produced a flawed performance thus far. They have the worst powerplay economy as Shardul Thakur and Akash Deep failed to deliver up to the expectations.
Digvesh Rathi has been only the lone star for the LSG’s bowling lineup. So, in order to progress, Giants need to answer many of their concerns.
Talking about SRH, they had a horrible time during this year’s IPL. The duo like Travis Head and Abishekh Sharma who were the talk of the town last year could not make headlines this season. The bowling was below par too, their spin economy 9.9 was the worst among the all teams.
The key pick like Ishan Kishan could not deliver as well and the performance of Heinrich Klaasen and Pat Cummins were questionable as well.
Therefore, even if the stakes may be different, both sides are desperate to win.
Probable Playing XIIs:
Lucknow Super Giants (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 David Miller, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Digvesh Rathi, 11 Prince Yadav, 12 Avesh Khan
Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable): 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Sachin Baby, 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Nitish Reddy, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Zeeshan Ansari
Pitch and weather report:
A heatwave is engulfing Uttar Pradesh, with temperatures occasionally rising beyond 40 degrees Celsius. In the previous two games at this location, spinners have been crucial. The curator has plenty of time to get the surface ready because the last game played here was on April 22.
Head-to-head record:
The both of the said teams have faced each other in five games thus far. SRH has only won one, while LSG has won four of them.
Prediction:
Given how poor SRH has been, LSG are favourites to win the upcoming clash 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
