Big Picture: Can Rahul-less LSG get their campaign back on track?
Lucknow Super Giants had one of the brighter starts to the IPL 2023 season, winning four of their first six games. Since then, however, they have won just one match in four, with their campaign losing some steam. In their last outing against Chennai Super Kings at home, Super Giants were struggling on 125 for 7 in 19.2 overs before persistent rain forced abandonment and points were shared. To make matters worse, LSG have also lost their captain KL Rahul, who has been ruled out of the season due to a thigh injury.
It doesn't help then that they next face table-toppers Gujarat Titans, a team they are yet to beat in the tournament in three attempts. They had a chance to correct that number last time around. Chasing 136 for a win, Super Giants were comfortably placed on 105 for 1, needing 31 off 36, but a bizarre collapse saw them go down by seven runs.
Make no mistake, Super Giants are still primed to make the playoffs. They have 11 points and are placed third on the table, but have four teams tailing them very closely. With the league stage entering its business end, further slip-ups can hurt Super Giants big time.
As odd as it might sound, they will be relieved to move out of their home venue of Lucknow, where they have been winless in their last four games. Super Giants have been good travelers this season, with three of their four wins coming in away games and they will want to continue this trend in Ahmedabad.
Titans, on the other hand, have fewer problems, but playing at home is one of them. All three of their defeats this season have come in Ahmedabad, which might open a door for Super Giants.
They are returning home on the back of a nine-wicket rout of Rajasthan Royals, and have a foot in the playoffs. They need just one more win to reach that safe number of 16 on the points table and are more comfortably placed than most teams.
The match will also see the Pandya brothers come face to face for the first time as respective captains of their IPL teams.
Team news: Nair replaces Rahul; Little travels home
Karun Nair has been drafted into the Super Giants side as Rahul's replacement for INR 50 lakh. Nair has played for five IPL franchises over the years and last turned out for Royals in 2022. For Titans, Josh Little will be traveling home for Ireland's three-match ODI series against Bangladesh and will miss Titans' next few games. He will return with the franchise after the third ODI on May 14.
Recent results
Gujarat Titans: WLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Lucknow Super Giants: LWLWL
Impact Player strategy: Does de Kock finally get a game?
Gujarat Titans
Shubman Gill and Mohit Sharma have been the Impact swaps for Titans over the last three games, which should be the case going into this game too. They will have to find a replacement for Little and might consider bringing in Alzarri Joseph. Barring that, they are unlikely to make any changes to their XII.
Probable XII: 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Hardik Pandya (capt) 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 David Miller 6 Abhinav Manohar 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Mohit Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants
Super Giants have consistently subbed out Amit Mishra during the season, at times for Kyle Mayers or Ayush Badoni and that is likely to continue on Sunday. The key question remains whether or not Quinton de Kock will finally get a game. It was Manan Vohra, who opened the innings for Super Giants last time, but there is a chance they could slot in de Kock in place of Naveen-ul-Haq, or Marcus Stoinis, who hasn't been in the greatest of form.
Probable XII: 1 Kyle Mayers, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Karan Sharma/Prerak Mankad, 4 Krunal Pandya (capt), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 K Gowtham, 9 Mohsin Khan, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Avesh Khan/Yash Thakur 12 Amit Mishra
Pitch and conditions
There has been good bounce and carry for the fast bowlers in Ahmedabad, and pace has been the more successful entity. This will be the second day game this year at this venue, with the first being that Rinku Singh match where both sides scored over 200. It is expected to be hot and sultry in Ahmedabad with the temperatures likely to touch 39 degrees.
Stats and Trivia: Watch out for Krunal v Shami
Super Giants have never beaten Titans in the IPL
Shubman Gill strikes at only 78.37 against Krunal Pandya and has fallen to him once in T20s. This could be a good match-up in the powerplay.
Hardik Pandya has a strike rate of 220 against Ravi Bishnoi in T20s.
Krunal has fallen to Shami three times in five innings and averages just 7.57 against him in T20s. He also has an iffy record against Rashid, falling to the legspinner thrice in seven innings.
Kyle Mayers has struck at 169 against spin this season, but has fallen to them in six out of the eight innings.
Shami has picked 12 wickets in the powerplay this year, the most for any bowler.
