IPL 2023: Lucknow will make it to the playoffs for the second consecutive year with a win over KKR
Kolkata. Dressed in the colors of local football team Mohun Bagan, the Lucknow Supergiants team, ready to enter the Eden Gardens, won the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs for the second consecutive year by registering a win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here on Saturday. Would like to make KKR haven’t had a great season and their team has failed to put together a winning combination. As a result, they have lost seven out of 13 matches so far and lost four of these matches at their home ground Eden Gardens. KKR’s batsmen are still struggling to find their rhythm while the lack of experience in their pace department is clearly 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 equation that is being created, four teams can end their campaign with 14 points and in such a situation the team with better net run rate will reach the playoffs. KKR are currently on 12 points and will not only have to win by a big margin but will also have to pray for wins for 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. Krunal 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 to show his captaincy skills.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. The owner of both these teams is RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
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Squad: Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (Captain), Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaj, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Anukul Roy , Rinku Singh, N Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Liton Das, Mandeep Singh and Arya Desai. Lucknow Supergiants: Krunal Pandya (Captain), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gautam, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholls Pooran, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Daniel Symes, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen Ul Haq, Yudhveer Charak and Karun Nair. Match Start: 7.30 PM.
