LSG target first win over Titans as Mayank takes the spotlight again

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Gujarat Titans (GT)
Lucknow, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)

LSG have the most exciting player of this IPL season in their ranks: Mayank Yadav, the 21 year old tearaway who bowls thunderbolts in excess of 150 kph with unwavering accuracy. He stopped Punjab Kings in their tracks, blew RCB away, bowled the fastest ball of the season (156.7 kph), and became the first to win Player of the Match awards in his first two IPL matches. Another impressive outing against Gujarat Titans, a team LSG have not beaten in four attempts, will only increase the conversation around Mayank and the T20 World Cup that starts six days after the IPL final.

India will have to name their squad for that tournament by the end of this month and experts on ESPNcricinfo's show TimeOut have already gone to say that Mayank's "skillsets are important" and that "it would be crazy not to look at the players in form". Mayank, however, has said that he isn't looking too far ahead and that his focus is now on the IPL. And, more immediately, trying to score a maiden win for LSG against the Titans.

Mayank has not yet taken the new ball for LSG and if Shubman Gill is still batting, that match-up could be one that has significant impact on the result of the game. Gill comes into the contest having scored an unbeaten 89 against Punjab Kings, his first substantial innings as the new Titans captain in IPL 2024.

LSG WWL (Most recent first)
GT LWLW

LSG have used a different combination of Impact Players in each of their three matches so far. That included subbing off KL Rahul after they batted first against Kings to manage his workload. But Rahul returned as captain and stayed on the field for the entire game against RCB. In that match, they subbed off Quinton de Kock after he scored 81 and brought in left-arm spinner M Siddharth as Impact Player while bowling second. In their previous home game, against Kings, Naveen-ul-Haq had come in as the Impact Player for Rahul.

Likely XII: 1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Yash Thakur, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Mayank Yadav, 12 M Siddharth

David Miller didn't say much about his fitness in the pre-match press conference. In his absence in Titans' previous match against Kings, Kane Williamson scored 26 off 22 balls. That was also the first time this season that Titans brought in Mohit Sharma to swap a batter other than Sai Sudharsan. They replaced Rahul Tewatia, who is yet to bowl this year, after batting first. They haven't played M Shahrukh Khan, their big-money signing at the auction in December, yet this season.

Likely XII: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Sai Sudharsan, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Darshan Nalkande, 12 Mohit Sharma

Ahead of this year's auction, LSG traded Avesh Khan for Devdutt Padikkal but that move is yet to show results. Batting at No. 3 in the three matches so far, he has scored 0, 9 and 6. Padikkal has also fallen to pace each time. He is the link between LSG's strong opening combination and Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran in the middle order, and they need him to ensure that no momentum is lost.

Only Gill and Sudharsan have 100-plus runs this season among Titans' batters. They don't have Hardik Pandya to bank on anymore, and with Miller missing, they need players like Vijay Shankar to step up. He has scores of 12 (12 balls), 14* (11) in a run chase, and 8 (10).

It is expected to be hot in Lucknow on Sunday evening. In the only match played there this season, LSG scored 199 and Punjab fell short by 21 runs in the chase. The score batting first in last season's first game in Lucknow was 193, but there were only two other 150-plus scores in the next six games.

"I think one mistake we made last year was to chop and change our team too much. I think it's important while the team is doing well to keep the same balance."
LSG bowling coach Morne Morkel

"At the moment, the table is pretty tight. So no one's really running away at this stage."
David Miller isn't worried about Titans' seventh position in the points table