IPL-17: KKR vs LSG | Kolkata Knight Riders will look to get relief against Lucknow Supergiants

Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look for home consolation to get back to winning ways when they take on Lucknow Supergiants in an Indian Premier League match in Kolkata on April 14.

The game will be the first of five at home for KKR and the Gautam Gambhir-coached side will be keenly aware that it could be decisive in sealing a play-off spot for the first time since 2021.

There is no difference between the two teams in terms of points with three wins each, but both teams lost in the last round. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings lost their last match by seven wickets, exposing KKR’s over-reliance on old Caribbean duo Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

Narine (27) and Russell (10) failed to bat and the Caribbean pair’s fine form saw the team register two 200-plus scores in three matches to shoot an even score of 137/9 at the Chennai in May tournament.

That sums up KKR’s batting which relies on some odd fireworks and misses an anchor in the absence of Nitish Rana (finger injury), who is expected to miss another game.

KKR captain Shreyas Iyer has been in the limelight since the start of the season but his performances have failed to impress and his results have been poor – 0, 39 not out, 18 and 34 runs.

Their other designated batsman Venkatesh Iyer scored 50-plus runs and 3 single-figure scores against Royal Challengers Bangalore this season and has been a clear contributor to what the team seems to be failing.

Starting from batting at No. 3 in the IPL opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Iyer has played the role of No. 7 and No. 5 finisher in the last two matches respectively.

Ramandeep Singh also had a good run after scoring a brilliant 35 against SRH.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi, winner of the 2022 U-19 World Cup, impressed the most with his 54-ball knock against Delhi Capitals. He is hoping to get back into the running after failing to make any changes to the starting XI against CSK.

Most notably signing Mitchell Starc’s poor form with the ball has become the talk of the town.

The Australian pacer, who has an economy rate of 11.00, took his maiden IPL wicket against DC after conceding 100 runs in the first two games.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Anukul Roy, who came in as an impact replacement and put in an impressive performance, will look to form a strong partnership with Narine.

While KKR will be overwhelming favorites at the Eden Gardens, LSG will not give up easily in their humility even though they will be missing pace sensation Mayank Yadav for the second consecutive match.

Mayank, who missed the match against Gujarat Titans due to a side strain, performed “well” but skipper KL Rahul said he “may play a few more matches before returning”.

Mayank’s successor Arshad Khan failed to impress and they failed to defend 167 runs in 10.73 overs against DC at home last night.

Mohsin Khan, who took 2/34 against Punjab Kings, could be a perfect replacement but can he fully recover from the hamstring injury the left-arm pacer’s recovery remains to be seen. The team owned by Kolkata industrialist Sanjeev Goenka will hope for a better performance after posting an average of 167/7 against DC on Friday.

Players like Quinton de Kock and Rahul are expected to return to the game, while they have a strong squad with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Purlan.

They have a strong slow bowling line-up with the likes of Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya, which will pose some tough questions for the KKR batsmen.

Team (from):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (C), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gubaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfan Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana , Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmant Chamera, Shakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (C), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Myers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdatta 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 and Mohammad Arshad Khan.

Start of play: 3.30 pm.