Gujarat Titans are at the top of the table with 8 points to their name. Lucknow are also playing well but they are not looking convincing in their performances. They have just three wins out of their last five games. So Gujarat has a better and convincing form.
In the recent matches, the pitch has produced a good amount of runs with help for both batters and bowlers. Although the chasing has been slightly tricky on this ground as seen in the last match between LSG and MI. The average first innings score is 169 runs which decreases to 154 in the second innings.
Lucknow Super Giants are playing well in this IPL season. They have won three matches and are looking strong. Their captain, Rishabh Pant is smart and wants the team to do better every time. Players like Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh are hitting the ball very well. The bowlers are also doing a good job by taking wickets, however they need a big improvement in the bowling department. In the last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, they won the match by just 3 runs even after posting 238 while batting first just because of poor bowling performances. LSG want to win more games and reach the top of the points table. If they keep playing like a team, they can go far in this tournament.
Gujarat Titans are one of the best teams this year. They have won four of their matches out of five and are at the top of the table. The players are doing great with both bat and ball. Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler are hitting big runs, and bowlers like Siraj and Raj Sai Kishore are stopping the other team from scoring. Hopefully, Rashid Khan has found his rhythm in the last game with the ball in hand, picking up two big wickets against Rajasthan Royals. GT has a strong team and are playing like champions. They want to keep winning and make it to the final.
The pitch in Lucknow is balanced, with equal chances for both batting and bowling. Teams batting first and second have won the same number of matches. The average first innings score is around 169. The weather may bring light showers, and it’ll be warm and humid.
In Scenario 1, Gujarat Titans win the toss and choose to bat first. They are expected to score around 180-190 runs, starting with a powerplay score of 45-50. In this case, Gujarat Titans are predicted to win.
In Scenario 2, Lucknow Super Giants win the toss and also opt to bat first. They are projected to put up a higher total of 200-210 runs with a strong powerplay of 55-65. In this scenario, Lucknow Super Giants are expected to win.
In both cases, the batting first team is predicted to win the match.
Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi
Impact Players: Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahamad, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh
Injury Update: None
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Impact Players: Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Kulwant Khejroliya
Injury Updates: None
Shubhman Gill is scoring runs but is not converting them into big scores this season. He averages only 37.00 per match which is also biased by a not out innings of 61 against SRH. However his average against Lucknow Super Giants is 58.66 with a highest score of 94 runs. Gill has scored a total of 176 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. He is a top player pick for this match between LSG and GT at Ekana Stadium.
Rashid Khan will be a important player pick in this match. Yes he is not in good form and he is giving away runs in this season but his strike-rate against left handers has been better than that of right handers, and LSG have three right handers in top six making it a perfect fixture for Rashid Khan. He has good numbers against Lucknow Super Giants picking up eight wickets in five games with an strike-rate of 14.60.
By the nature of pitch it can be said that this pitch has given opportunity to both the teams. Punjab Kings have won a match chasing on this ground while Lucknow Super Giants have won a match batting first. However it is important to note that Lucknow Super Giants have a weak bowling attack which made it easy for Punjab to chase. So, the team batting first will have a good chance to win this match.
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