Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI) square off in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. The winner of this fixture will take on Gujarat Titans for a place in the final, while the losing team will crash out of the tournament. The batting unit finally clicking and a rather dramatic entry into the IPL play-offs will make MI a more confident side. LSG, on the other hand, would know all too well that they were eliminated at the same stage last year by RCB after being one of the most dominating sides.
LSG's batting has clicked despite the absence of Rahul and they qualified for the playoffs rather comfortably with Marcus Stoinis (368 runs, 14 matches) coming to the fore with his big-hitting.
Nicholas Pooran (358) has brought the Caribbean flair and been vital cogs in LSG's performance. How he fares at the Chepauk, which has often thrown up slowish pitches, would have a bearing on the outcome of the match.
Ravi Bishnoi (16 wickets from 14 matches) has been the leading bowler for LSG and he would be skipper Krunal's go-to bowler. But it would also be important for the likes of Naveen-ul-Haq and Avesh Khan, besides Krunal himself and veteran Amit Mishra, to step up.
For MI, Cameron Green (381 runs), along with a resurgent Suryakumar Yadav (511 runs, one century, four fifties), skipper Rohit (313) and Ishan Kishan (439), will be their key batters when they taken on LGS in the do-or-die clash.
The Rohit Sharma-led side would like to utilise the experience of Piyush Chawla -- the unlikely hero in the bowling department with 20 wickets so far -- while Jason Behrendorff (14) has done a decent job whenever called up. Their value to the side can't be over emphasised, more so in a crunch game.
LSG Predicted XI: Karan Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Prerak Mankad, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya (capt.), Nicholas Pooran, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan
MI Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (capt.), Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Chris Jordan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya
(With PTI Inputs)
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