Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Lucknow Super Giants in Match 15 of the 2024 Indian Premier League season at the M. Chinaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli has laid down the marker for the rest of the season by scoring 181 runs in the first three matches but the rest of the batting has let down new head coach Andy Flower as the Bengaluru-based franchise has bagged only 1 win in the first three matches.
Mayank Yadav was the shining light in LSG’s last match as the fast bowler bowled the three fastest deliveries of the season in a single spell signifying that the Justin Langer-coached side is not thin on bowling resources.
What has happened so far?
Facing defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the season opener, RCB went down fighting at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as Ruturaj Gaikwad won his first match as the CSK skipper.
RCB then bounced back with a win against Punjab Kings as Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik took their side over the line in a thrilling run-chase but Kohli’s brilliance was not enough to get a second consecutive win as Kolkata Knight Riders handed RCB their second defeat of the season.
On the other hand, LSG opened their campaign against Rajasthan Royals and Langer too lost his first match as head coach as a target of 194 runs turned out to be too steep for KL Rahul’s men.
Playing their first match at home, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, and Krunal Pandya helped LSG set a target of 200 runs for the Punjab Kings and bagged their first win of the season by a margin of 21 runs.
Flower knows all about LSG’s strengths and weaknesses after spending two seasons with the Lucknow-based franchise and the former Zimbabwe skipper would be extra motivated to get one over his former employers.
Head to Head Record
Royal Challengers Bangalore has dominated LSG with three wins to RCB’s name while the Lucknow-based franchise bagged a solitary win under the tutelage of Gautam Gambhir in the last couple of years.
In the last fixture between the two sides, LSG did very well to restrict the Royal Challengers to a total of 126 runs at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium but an all-round effort from the RCB bowling attack deflated the Super Giants at home as they got all out on a total of 108 runs.
Key Players
Dinesh Karthik (Royal Challengers Bengaluru): Dinesh Karthik has been a reliable finisher for RCB at the tail end of the innings scoring 86 runs in three innings at a strike rate of more than 195.
The experienced batter has not kept wickets in IPL 2024 as Anuj Rawat has been preferred behind the stumps but Karthik has done more than enough to warrant his place in the playing XI as a pure batter.
Nicholas Pooran is in blistering form and would shoulder the responsibility in the middle order
Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants): Nicholas Pooran transforms himself into a beast in T20 cricket as the West Indies superstar batter has impressed in various T20 leagues across the world. Pooran has had a good start to the 2024 edition of the cash-rich league as he has scored 96 runs at an astounding strike rate of 154.83.
After captaining LSG to their maiden win of the ongoing IPL campaign, Pooran is once again expected to don the virtual captaincy armband with KL Rahul struggling with fitness issues yet again.
Team News from Both Camps
Almost every franchise has an injury list that keeps on increasing but the Flower-coached side has every player available and would be aiming to put out their best players on the field.
Former RCB star KL Rahul is once again expected to feature as an impact player with the management expected to take precautions with any potential concerns over the fitness of centrally contracted players who stand a chance to be on a flight to the United States of America in the last week of May.
Predicted XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis ©, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock (wk), Devudtt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran ©, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan
Prediction
The Royal Challengers are well aware of the conditions and dimensions on offer at the M.Chinaswamy Stadium in the heart of Bengaluru. On the other hand, Langer would be aiming for LSG’s first away win of the season after bagging a win at home against Punjab Kings.