The Big Picture – Spin to Win Again?

Lucknow Supergiants started the season with a loss, but have since bounced back with three wins. Their most recent victory came against Gujarat Titans at home on a spin-friendly pitch. LSG’s spinners were central to the result – Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi and M Siddharth combined for figures of 10-0-48-4 to help them defend 163 – and they were special on Friday. As such, the visitors can expect a similar level against the Delhi Capitals. .

Batting has been a struggle for the Capitals this season. Their collective average of 23.35 is the lowest among all teams, and they have suffered the absence of key players like Kuldeep Yadav and Mitchell Marsh due to injuries. That doubles the Capitals’ woes: an errant batting line-up on a potentially spin-friendly pitch, and the Capitals’ second-lowest batting average against spin (28.44) this season behind Kolkata Knight Riders.

Unlike LSG, Capitals come into the contest having lost their last two games and are bottom of the table with just one win in their first five matches. And they are still looking for their first win against LSG, having lost all three of their matches so far.

Farm Guide

LSG LWWW (latest matches first)
DC LLWLL

Team news and impact player strategies

Lucknow Supergiants
Pacer Mayank Yadav walked off the field after bowling an over in his last match against the Titans. LSG said he would take up his workload in the coming week as a “precaution”, and head coach Justin Langer ruled him out of the next two matches. LSG also continued to wait on the fitness of Mohsin, who had a hamstring injury and missed the team’s last two matches.

If both Mayank and Mohsin can’t play against DC, LSG can play left-arm pacer Arshad Khan or right-arm pacer Yudhvir Singh. They have two other overseas fast bowling options in Matt Henry and Shamar Joseph.

Probable XII: 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 KL Rahul (Captain, WK), 3 Dev Dutt Padikal, 4 Marcus Stoins, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Ayush Baduni, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Yash Thakur, 10 Naveen Haq, 11 Arshad Khan, 12 M Siddharth

Delhi Capitals

Capitals coach Ricky Ponting is hopeful that Kuldeep and Mukesh Kumar will be available to play in Lucknow. Marsh, however, is still sidelined with an injury.

Probable XII: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Abhishek Poral, 4 Rishabh Pant (captain and wicket), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Lalit Yadav, 8 Jay Richardson, 9 Enrich Noortje, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Khalil Ahmed, 12 Kumar Kshagra.

In the Spotlight – Nicholas Puran and Tristan Stubbs

Nicholas Pooran is LSG’s highest run-scorer so far this season – 178 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 169.52. He has been particularly impressive in the death overs, where his six-hitting abilities take his strike rate to 180. Pooran has only been dismissed once this season, and holds the key to LSG strengthening their innings.

Tristan Stubbs The Capitals have had their best hitters this season. He is their top scorer with 174 runs and has been particularly good against spin. His strike rate of 207 against the spinners is the highest for anyone who has faced at least 35 balls, so he will play a key role against LSG’s spinners on the day.

Statistics are important.

  • In the IPL, Quinton de Kock has a combined record of 193 runs at an average of 64.33 against Ishant Sharma, Enrich Nortje, Axar Patel and Khalil Ahmed. All four are expected to start for the Capitals against LSG on Friday. Ishant, Nortje and Akshar have each received a d-cock, Khalil is yet to get out.

  • At 13.43, Nortje has the highest economy rate of any bowler with at least 90 deliveries this season. Umesh Yadav, second on the list, agreed at a rate of 10.55 per over.

  • Since 2022, LSG have won nine of their 18 home games, the third-highest win-loss ratio among all teams. In contrast, DC has won just six of 17 away games, the fewest of any team.

    • Pitch and conditions

    Lucknow is expected to be hot and humid and Langer said they will play against the Capitals on a black clay pitch. This could mean another slow, spin-friendly surface, as LSG secured a convincing victory against the Titans.

    Quotations

    “What I was most proud of about the last game was that with Mayank out after just one over, we had to find another way to win – and we did. So that shows we have some depth in our squad.”
    Head Coach of Lucknow Supergiants Justin Langer

    “We are very aware that time is running out… we have a lot of work to do. I have full faith in the players that we can win enough games from here.”
    Head Coach of Delhi Capitals Ricky Ponting

    Himanshu Agarwal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.

    (Tags Translation)LSG



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