The State of Play
All eyes will be on KL Rahul as his Lucknow Super Giants team take on Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 tomorrow.
The Super Giants skipper was handed a public dressing down by team owner Sanjiv Goenka following their 10-wicket thrashing by Sunrisers Hyderabad last week.
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The row has sparked plenty of debate with Rahul’s India team-mate Mohammed Shami expressing his disappointment at the fact it was done so brazenly.
Paceman Shami, who is out of the IPL because of injury, told Cricbuzz: “If he wanted to do this [discuss the result] there are other ways of talking. He could have spoken to him in the dressing room or the hotel, there is no need to do it on the field.
“He [Rahul] is also your captain. It’s not a normal player or that a big mistake was made – it’s a team game. If the plan was unsuccessful, it’s not a big deal. Anything can happen in the game. There are good and bad days, but the player should be respected and there should be an etiquette of talking.”
The upshot is Rahul is now widely expected to leave the franchise at the end of the season. Before that, he would love to prove Goenka wrong and guide his side into the play-offs.
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It remains a big ask with LSG having to win their last two games and rely on other results going their way.
Delhi are in a similar position. They have to win this game to stand any chance of advancing to the post-season.
Their hopes of qualifying were dealt a blow with defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday night. RCB made 187 from their 20 overs but Delhi never looked like chasing it down and were eventually dismissed for just 140.
Captain Rishabh Pant missed the game after serving a one-match suspension for a slow over-rate against Rajasthan Royals.
Stand-in skipper Akar Patel bemoaned his side’s sloppiness in the field. He said: “I think if we had taken the catches we put down, they would have been 20-30 short and we should have chased 150 easily.
“But if you lose four in the powerplay in a chase of 180 then you’re only left playing catch-up in the game. 160-170 would have been par here because the ball wasn’t coming on that easily when the fast bowlers were bowling and the ball was stopping a bit.
“Anything can happen from here [for play-offs] but let’s see.”
💔 at Chinnaswamy. pic.twitter.com/uiaLp47vzw
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 12, 2024
Expected line-ups:
Delhi Capitals: Warner, Fraser-McGurk, Porel (wk), Hope, Patel, Stubbs, Khan (c), Salam, Yadav, Kumar, Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants: Rahul (c, wk), De Kock, Stoinis, Pandya, Pooran, Badoni, Hooda, Gowtham, Thakur, Bishnoi, Naveen
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Sunday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
We’re all hurt by that game. 💔
But we are so grateful for each blue flag at Uppal, and every social media post or comment in our support despite this defeat.
This team has shown resilience over the last two years, and we’ll show it again.
Thank you for sticking with us, LSG…
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) May 8, 2024
Prediction
You could make a very good case for the Super Giants having the stronger line-up but when team harmony is not right then it can have a widespread effect.
There is no doubt the LSG players would have been annoyed by their captain being publicly reprimanded and it is how they take it. Some may sulk and some may have fire in their bellies.
We feel the former scenario is more likely, presenting a wonderful opportunity for the Capitals to take advantage.
We’re going for a home win.
