Lucknow Super Giants Vs Delhi Capital: Will LSG prevail again?

The new entrant, Lucknow Super Giant, has been promising so far. They lost one match against the Gujarat Titans but made a comeback to win two consecutive matches. Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, has lost one of the two matches played so far.

Star players to return for Delhi Capitals.

Delhi Capitals will be playing their first match at this venue this season. Though coming with a loss on their back, they will try to win the match and prove themselves. Delhi Capitals have got their most overseas players back for the selection in Playing XI. David Warner and Anrich Nortje are out of quarantine and injury recovery, respectively, thus making themselves available for selection. Lungi Ngidi, too, can find a spot in the team, having completed quarantine. The availability of these players has come at the right time and can help the team sail in the right direction before it's too late. The team, though, has plenty of bowlers to choose from; middle-order batting can be a matter of concern for the team.

Lucknow to maintain their winning momentum

On the other hand, Lucknow Super Giants will be coming confident with a bag of two consecutive wins on familiar ground. The team has a great batting depth like no other team but has concerns about death over bowling, which is majorly shouldered on Avesh Khan. They might see reinforcement as their overseas star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis could be available for the selection. 

Pitch report

The team winning toss might look to bowl first. However, on this pitch, the chasing team won the first two matches, but the team defending the total has been able to win the match ever since. It will be interesting to see what the captain decides to do at the toss.

Predicted Playing XI

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Sarfaraz khan, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman.

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Andrew Tye, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi

Stats to keep an eye on

• David Warner vs Ravi Bishnoi: 4 balls, five runs and two dismissals. The LSG leg-spinner might be troubling for the Capitals' opener.
• Axar Patel vs KL Rahul: 14 balls, 13 runs and three dismissals. Delhi Capitals will be eyeing on LSG skipper through Axar Patel.
• Among players with a minimum of 750 runs in IPL power plays, Prithvi Shaw's strike rate of 147 is second only to Jos Buttler's 150.
• Since IPL 2020, Rishabh Pant has been among the top five slowest-scoring batters against leg-spin (min. 50 runs scored) with a strike rate of just 105. LSG will be mindful of the same and might use Ravi Bishnoi for the same.

It will be interesting to see if Lucknow Super Giants can prevail over Delhi Capitals to register their third consecutive win for the season, or Delhi Capitals will be able to mark their second win.