Sports

IPL 2023: RCB hopeful of better performance from middle order against Lucknow

Lucknow. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be hoping for a better performance from their middle order in their Indian Premier League clash against Lucknow Supergiants here on Monday. RCB’s top-order, featuring Virat Kohli, Faf Duplesey and Glenn Maxwell, has done well in the eight matches so far but the middle-order has proved to be their weak side. Kohli, Duplessis and Maxwell cannot be expected to win every match and the time has come for batsmen like Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dinesh Karthik to make an impact. RCB’s fielding also has room for improvement and Kohli has pointed this out after the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Former India captain Kohli will continue to lead the team till Duplessis regains full fitness. The RCB team is using Duplessis as an ‘impact player’. Mohammad Siraj has bowled brilliantly for RCB and he needs support from other fast bowlers. Harshal Patel is being given the responsibility of bowling during the tough times but he needs to improve on his economy rate of 9.94. On the other hand, Lucknow’s team will enter this match after a big win against Punjab Kings. The batting performance against Punjab shows that any score can be achieved when batsmen like Kyle Myers, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran are on their toes.

Skipper Lokesh Rahul, however, is under pressure and would like to make a mark at the home ground in Lucknow. The Lucknow pitch, however, disappointed and doesn’t suit the home side’s strengths. The Super Giants batsmen scored a lot of runs on a batting friendly pitch in Mohali but they have to struggle on a slow pitch here. Rahul and his team, however, would be hoping for a better performance than the last home match when the team failed to chase down the target of 136 despite being in a good position. The spinners have enjoyed bowling on the Lucknow pitch and Ravi Bishnai has shouldered the responsibility for the team along with the experienced Amit Mishra. Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq impressed in the absence of Mark Wood. Avesh Khan has given runs at a rate of around 10 runs per over in seven matches and would like to improve on this.

Also read: IPL 2023: Chasing the target, we lost our rhythm in the middle overs: Warner

Squad: Lucknow Super Giants: Lokesh Rahul (Captain), Kyle Myers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Amit Mishra, Nicholas Pooran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ayush Badoni, Avesh Khan, Karan Sharma, Yudhveer Charak, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Mark Wood, Swapnil Singh, Manan Vohra, Daniel Symes, Prerak Mankad, Krishnappa Gautam, Jaydev Unadkat, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi and Mayank Yadav. Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (Captain), Virat Kohli, Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat, Avinash Singh, Manoj Bhandge, Michael Bracewell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Siddharth Kaul, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Suyash Prabhudesai, Rajan Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Himanshu Sharma, Sonu Yadav, Vijaykumar Vaishak and David Willey. Time: The match will start at 7.30 PM.

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