The new entrants, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will be locking horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the eliminator of the playoffs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The KL Rahul side finished third on the points table and in their last league match, Lucknow registered a nail-biting win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last week.
LSG will be expected to bring back regulars like Krunal Pandya and Ayush Badoni for the high-intensity fixture after being benched for their last league game. On the other, Royal Challengers Bangalore also registered a dominating win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in their last league stage match though which they managed to end in the fourth place.
ALSO READ: Eliminator (LSG vs RCB) – Probable XI And Fantasy XI
The Faf du Plessis-led side was impressive in both the departments and the franchise will be immensely relieved with their talisman Virat Kohli returning to form. Mohammad Siraj can be expected to make a comeback into the playing XI at the expense of Siddharth Kaul. Earlier this season, LSG and RCB locked horns with each other once and Bangalore had registered a comfortable win by 18 runs owing to a brilliant 4-wicket spell of Josh Hazlewood.
Ahead of the all-important clash, we take a look at the player battles when these two sides meet.
#1 Virat Kohli vs Mohsin Khan
While IPL 2022 has been patchy and below par at best for Virat Kohli, he played a fiery knock of 54-ball-73 against GT to help his side finish with 16 points. Loading up against Kohli will be Mohsin Khan, one of the players who has had an impressive IPL 2022 with 13 wickets from eight matches at an economy of 5.93. The southpaw pacer will be a challenge as he gets the ball to swing into Kohli and rap him on the pads with that nippy speed. However, Virat will look to make the most of the form he’s found.
#2 Krunal Pandya vs Dinesh Karthik
As far as the battles between finishers and spinners go, Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik will be expected to produce a spicy contest on Wednesday. Krunal had a niggle in the last game and as he is expected to make a comeback, he will be Rahul’s go-to man when Karthik walks out to bat. Dinesh Karthik has been in red-hot form for RCB in IPL 2022, finishing games with a cool head and absolute disdain. He has been dismissed twice by Krunal in the IPL.
#3 KL Rahul vs Glenn Maxwell
The Aussie all-rounder has had the better of LSG skipper KL Rahul twice in all their IPL encounters and Faf du Plessis has often started the bowling with Glenn Maxwell to try his luck and stifle Rahul early on in his innings. Rahul is second on the list of most runs scored in IPL 2022 with 537 runs from 14 matches. Another good day with the bat will see him surpassing the 600-run mark for the third time in a row, something Lucknow will be more than happy to take.
