Both Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings have felt the heat of defeat this season, Lucknow Super Giants are still searching for the first win of the season, meanwhile, Punjab Kings would be looking to overcome the sorrow of nail-biting defeat against RCB.
Lucknow Super Giants will be playing their first game of the season, it would be interesting to see how the pitch plays, the same as last season or does it have something else for us to show…?
Team Preview
Lucknow Super Giants
Justin Langer’s side will be playing their first home game in this year’s IPL. Last year the spinning track was a pothole for themselves as most of their batters struggled to read the ball, resulting in only 3 wins out of 7 home games.
In the first encounter against Rajasthan Royals, LSG’s batting struggled, but Pooran and KL Rahul made sure that there was a comeback. LSG kept shuffling the batting order last year which led to instability in batting.
Considering the spinning behaviour of the EKANA stadium, LSG would be keen to include veteran Amit Mishra in their scheme of things.
Last year Mark Wood’s pace was also a problem for the batters in the Ekana stadium, so we might see GABBA sensation Shamar Joseph playing ahead of Naveen-ul-Haq.
Probable Playing XII: KL Rahul (wk, c), Quinton De Kock, Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Amit Mishra, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph/Naveen-ul-Haq.
Impact Player: Ayush Badoni (Batting First) or Amit Mishra (Bowling First)
Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings in its two matches has shown promise but failed to deliver at crunch moments. Star signing Harshal Patel has been a flop till now and has leaked above 40 runs in both matches. Bowling lead Arshdeep Singh was also very bad with his line and length in the encounter against RCB. Sam Curran and Rahul Chahar have continued their poor bowling form from last year’s edition.
Shikhar Dhawan as the same story as always is playing too slow, which results in pressure building and the other batter slogs, eventually leading to his downfall. Johnny Bairstow is playing non-serious cricket, just slogs every ball and drops regulation catches.
Considering poor spin bowling and poor batting depth, Sikandar Raza can be given a go in the next games.
Probable Playing XII: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prabhsimran Singh, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(wk), Shashank Singh, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada.
Impact Player: Prabhsimran Singh (Batting First) or Arshdeep Singh (Bowling First)
Pitch Report
When it comes to the pitch, it is known for playing slowly and benefitting the spinners a lot, even after the renovation of the pitch for the World Cup that happened in 2023, the pitch still has a lot for the bowlers in it. Around 150-170 could be a very good total to defend.
Players To Watch Out For
KL Rahul
KL Rahul played competitive cricket for the first time in 2 months, but it felt like he never felt the field, banging a fifty in his return match. It would be interesting to see where will KL Rahul bat in the middle order or will be leading from the front. All LSG batters will be looking to bat around him and KL has been an anchor.
Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan till now hasn’t found his form and has failed to capitalize on his starts. PBKS’s success highly depends on Dhawan’s batting form as all the batters in the lineup are hitters, and no one has the same composure as Dhawan has. So for Dhawan, it is important to lead the team from the front.
LSG vs PBKS Dream11 Team for Match 11 of 2023 IPL
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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