The 21st match of the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League will be played between Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings tomorrow (Saturday), at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
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After losing a closely fought contest against the Chennai Super Kings, LSG have registered back-to-back victories against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, to presently find themselves at the second spot in the points table.
Their batting department has impressed in each of their three matches so far, so much so that their in-form wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock has had to warm the bench. Chasing the total of 212 runs during the previous match against RCB, will only further add to their confidence as a batting unit.
PBKS, on the other hand, have had to pay the price for some ordinary batting during their previous two matches. Having begun the tournament with two straight victories, two consecutive losses have now placed themselves at the sixth spot in the table.
Ekana Stadium Pitch Report for LSG vs PBKS IPL 2023 Match in Lucknow
The first IPL 2023 match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium was played on a Red Soil, which turned out to be decent enough for the batters.
However, the second match between LSG and SRH at this venue was played on the Black soil, which gripped and turned for the spinners, and made it challenging for the batters to score freely.
“We’ve been here for a couple of weeks now. Knew what we were getting into (nature of the pitch). Even when Jaydev bowled a few cutters, it was gripping. Was a no-brainer to bowl spin early. First instinct when I saw both pitches was that we’ll need to bat smartly here,” remarked LSG skipper KL Rahul post his team’s second home match at Lucknow.
If the match tomorrow is played on the very strip, expect more spin to be deployed by captains of both the sides in their playing XI.
Notable players likely to play/remain unavailable tomorrow
PBKS batter Liam Livingstone has suffered a minor injury upon his arrival to India a few days ago, as stated by Shikhar Dhawan after their previous match. He is likely to remain unavailable during tomorrow’s contest as well.
