We’re officially halfway through this wonderful tournament—and that was quick, wasn’t it? It feels like just yesterday when RCB faced SRH in the season opener, and suddenly we’re already at Match 38 of 74.
This is the second game of a double-header Sunday, as Lucknow Super Giants take on Kolkata Knight Riders. The last time these two sides met, Mukul Choudhary pulled off one of the craziest chases ever.
What happens today?
Expected Playing 11:
LSG
- Mitchell Marsh
- Ayush Badoni
- Rishabh Pant (C & WK)
- Aiden Markam
- Matthew Breetzke
- Himmat Singh
- Mukul Choudhary
- Digvesh Rathi
- Mohammed Shami
- Prince Yadav
- Mayank Yadav
Impact Player- Mohsin Khan
KKR:
- Ajinkhya Rahane (C)
- Sunil Narine
- Angkrish Raghuvanshi (WK)
- Cameron Green
- Rinku Singh
- Rovman Powell
- Anukul Roy
- Ramandeep Singh
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Kartik Tyagi
- Matheesha Pathirana
Impact Player- Vaibhav Arora
Matheesha Pathirana is set to make his KKR debut today against LSG.
Head to Head:
| Matches- | 7 |
| KKR Won- | 2 |
| LSG Won- | 5 |
| No Result- | 0 |
Pitch and Weather Conditions:
Out of all the venues this season, the Ekana Stadium has arguably been the slowest. Teams have struggled to even reach 160–170 here. Playing at this ground almost feels like being taken back 10–12 years, when a score of 175 was considered a match-winning total.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s the classic IPL we grew up watching—but after seeing teams chase 260+, watching sides struggle to get to 160 does feel a bit unusual. The average score here this season has been around 155.
The pitch tends to slow down further as the game progresses, and there hasn’t been much dew either, as we saw in the last match when LSG failed to chase 160 against RR. The heat doesn’t help much either, with temperatures expected to be around 38°C at 6 PM, gradually dropping to 33°C by 9 PM and around 31°C by the end of the game.
Mukul Choudhary’s Herioics against KKR in Match 28:
Well, how can we go into the reverse fixture without revisiting that spectacular chase, orchestrated by LSG’s Mukul Choudhary. The man has mentioned that he is an MS Dhoni fan, and boy oh boy did he prove that. With that innings, and the type of shots he played, I think that’s the first time we’ve seen someone play a helicopter in the form of a lofted cover drive over extra covers. That innings was breath taking to watch, and with that innings he really made his name.
https://www.iplt20.com/video/65029/mukul-choudharys-54-27-stuns-kkr?tagNames=2026
Here’s the link to his heroics, click on it and relive it.
Prediction:
We’re going with KKR to take this match. They’ve finally found a bit of momentum after their first win, and right now, even that is more than what LSG have. LSG are on a four-match losing streak, and their last win actually came against KKR.
With this pitch expected to be slower than most, the in-form Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy could be key players for KKR. LSG do have the home advantage, but it hasn’t meant much—they’ve been breached quite often over the last two years, and this season they haven’t won a single game at home.
That said, LSG do have plenty of batting firepower, but their batters haven’t been able to find rhythm consistently. If their top order clicks, they can become very hard to beat. And more importantly, they need their captain, Rishabh Pant, to step up. He’s a proven match-winner—as we saw earlier this season—and if he finds his rhythm again, LSG could turn things around quickly.
If you want to see KKR have the opportunity of taking revenge against LSG tonight, then tune into JioHotstar at 7:30 PM IST.
Until next time!
Thank you.
SlogVlog 