Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants are in a tricky position as they square in an IPL 2024 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium tonight.
While DC are currently sixth in the standings, and Lucknow, a step behind on seventh spot, the hosts are in a dire spot. A loss will knock out Rishabh Pant-led DC from the playoffs reace. LSG, on the other hand, will still have one more game to play and have a mathematical chance to book a berth even if they lose on Tuesday.
LSG made it to the playoffs last two seasons but their performances so far this season have been less than inspiring. The KL Rahul-led side has scored at 8.35 runs per over (average strike rate of 139.89) throughout this tournament – the second lowest across all teams – which is mediocre considering the standards IPL 2024 has set. The only team having a lower strike rate is Gujarat Titans, 137.65.
LSG have struggled to push their scoring rate but the beautiful batting track at the Arun Jaitley Stadium offers some home for them to improve on that. The average run-rate here this season has been 11.06.
LSG at Aruj Jaitely Stadium gives an impression of a passenger car that has been put an am F1 track.
Rahul himself has been facing the heat for not being able to score at a quick pace.
However, LSG assistant coach Lance Klusener has defended his captain.
“KL has got his own unique style… But I think , this IPL has been exceptionally tough for him because we’ve kept losing wickets at poor stages which hasn’t allowed him to kick on when he likes,” Klusener said on Monday.
“He probably feels like he’s always having to rebuild. There’s a batting unit around KL. We haven’t been as good as we should. So I think it’s just been extremely tough conditions for him in that way. Something we’ve chatted around about as well that we’ve just kept losing wickets at tough times and batters coming in seem to have to be rebuilding the whole time and not just coming into a platform.
“KL’s past energy probably would have liked to have kicked on a few more games, probably would have liked to have at least one or two hundreds that haven’t worked out for him, but there’s still a couple of games left, he’s in a good space so we’ve got our fingers crossed again for him,” he added.
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What: Delhi Capitals vs Lucknow Super Giants, IPL Match no. 64
When: May 14, Tuesday
Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
Timings: 19:00 hrs Toss, play begins at 19:30 hrs
Team News
Delhi Capitals
Rishabh Pant will be back for the side after serving one-match suspension against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. This implies that he will take Kumar Kushagra’s place in the playing XI.
Lucknow Super Giants
Klusner dismissed the rumours about a potential change in captaincy following visuals of an animated discussion between Rahul and LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka surfaced on broadcast recently.
“Certainly, no discussions around that,” Klusener clarified.
In addition, Mohsin Khan will be available for selection after injuring his head against Kolkata Knight Riders that forced him to miss the contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
What to expect?
All the four games in DC so far have seen scores going beyond 200 in the first innings, with the highest being 266/7. Teams chasing these targets have also crossed 200 except for once, even when SRH restricted DC on 199.
Weather is expected to be clear.
Full Squads
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant(wk/c), David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Kumar Kushagra, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Rasikh Dar Salam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Gulbadin Naib, Lalit Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Lizaad Williams, Jhye Richardson, Anrich Nortje, Sumit Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Swastik Chikara
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul(wk/c), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ashton Turner, Manimaran Siddharth, Amit Mishra, Devdutt Padikkal, Arshin Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Kyle Mayers, Matt Henry, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Shamar Joseph
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