Till at least midnight on Friday, April 13, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were at the Ekana Stadium after a big six-wicket home defeat to the 10th-placed team in IPL 2024, Delhi Capitals. Less than 40 hours later, they'll be in Kolkata, facing the second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at one of the most daunting away stadiums.
In Lucknow, they were hoping to get as close to the top spot as possible. But now, they'd want to put up a performance enough to keep them in the top four.
KKR are coming off their first defeat of the tournament and aren't the force at home that they used to be once. They also seem to have a couple of off-field issues brewing up in the background behind the limelight. But still, given the well-balanced make-up for their first 15, LSG would take them lightly at their peril.
The last match at the Eden, between KKR and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), saw over 400 runs scored but also 14 wickets. This one is likely to be similar and here's our prediction on which three bowlers could be among the most wickets:
#3 Ravi Bishnoi
Eden Gardens has in recent times become a pacers' den. But due to the uncertainty surrounding the fitness of Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav, and Mohsin Khan, this match is likely to be dominated by spinners.
And LSG's lead tweaker, Ravi Bishnoi, bowled his best spell of the season, 2/25, against DC. The last time he came to Eden, he took out Nitish Rana and Andre Russell in a brilliant match-winning spell of 2/23. Overall, he averages just 19.22 against KKR, his second-best for any opponent in the IPL.
The leggie has always been consistent when he hits a good patch and KKR will have to be wary of his wicket-taking skills in the middle overs.
#2 Andre Russell
In Harshit's likely absence, KKR will look at Russell to step up in helpful conditions. Against SRH, he was expensive but took the wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad in just two overs.
His assortment of pace variations and the smart use of the long boundary at the Eden would be handy against LSG. Thanks to his tangibly better fitness, his consistency has gone up a notch and his confidence seems at an all-time high.
Some of the all-rounder's best bowling performances have come at home too. Overall, he has 33 wickets in 37 matches here at an average of 24.18.
However, more than just numbers, LSG's likely fatigued batters would need to do considerably well to manage his game-changing skills as well.
#1 Sunil Narine
Against SRH, when every bowler went at least eight runs per over, KKR's veteran spinner Sunil Narine bowled a four-over spell of 1/19. He was clinical in stopping the visitors' momentum in the middle overs and could have ended up with more wickets had SRH not given up on trying to take him on early in his spell.
Narine knows Eden more than most in the IPL - 62 wickets in 53 matches at an average of 20.11. In his last match against LSG here, he took two wickets for 28. Seeing how LSG struggled against Kuldeep Yadav at home, he'd be a handful for their middle order.
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