Dressed in the colors of local football giants Mohun Bagan, Lucknow Super Giants will look to make it to the IPL playoffs for the second year in a row by registering a win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here on Saturday.
KKR haven't had a great season and their team has failed to put together a winning combination. The result was that he had to face defeat in seven out of 13 matches so far and he lost four of these matches at his home ground Eden Gardens. KKR's batsmen are still struggling to find their rhythm, while the lack of experience in their pace department is visible.
Apart from this, his fielding has also been second-rate. With the performances of players like Rinku Singh and Varun Chakraborty, KKR's chances of reaching the playoffs are not over yet. In the kind of equations being created, four teams can end their campaign with 14 points and in such a situation the team with a better net run rate will reach the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders need a big win
KKR is currently on 12 points and will need to not only win by a big margin but also pray for wins against Punjab Kings (vs Rajasthan Royals), Gujarat Titans (vs Royal Challengers Bangalore), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (vs Mumbai Indians).
Lucknow's team, however, is not stuck in such an equation and will qualify for the playoffs if they win. The Lucknow team is looking in good rhythm. Krutal Pandya has handled the captaincy role very well since KL Rahul was ruled out due to injury, especially when he defended 177 runs against Mumbai Indians.
Against Mumbai, Marcus Stoinis displayed his aggressive nature while Mohsin Khan and Ravi Bishnoi proved to be effective in bowling. The Lucknow Supergiants team will wear Mohun Bagan-colored jerseys in this match. Both these teams are owned by RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
Possible playing-11 of both the teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakraborty.
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock (wk), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Prerak Mankad, Krunal Pandya (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Swapnil Singh, Mohsin Khan.
