It has been a satisfying campaign so far for Lucknow Super Giants with three wins from four outings.
However, as it gears up for the home IPL fixture at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium on Friday — against a struggling Delhi Capitals — LSG will be wary of complacency.
A swollen hip has forced young pacer Mayank Yadav, who bowls thunderbolts in excess of 150 kmph, to sit out, whereas the LSG management is yet to decide on the availability of the other pacer Mohsin Khan.
However, it still has enough firepower. Coming on the back of a five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans, rookie pacer Yash Thakur will be hoping to keep the momentum going against Delhi Capitals, which is placed at the bottom of the table with just a solitary win.
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting is hopeful that both Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar could return to action against LSG, and it would be interesting to see how they fare against the strong opening pair of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul.
While Rahul is yet to convert his starts into something meaningful, de Kock has proved a point with two fifties. With some aggressive knocks, Nicholas Pooran took care of the middle-order, even though Devdutt Padikkal stuttered.
The Capitals, meanwhile, have struggled in every department. While bowling at the death has been an area of concern, none of its batters - barring skipper Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubb - has been able to show consistency.
Teams (from)
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c&wk), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Swastik Chikara, Shai Hope.
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Mohd Arshad Khan.
Match starts at 7.30 PM.
