KKR, LSG battle for momentum amidst rusty start

The contest between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants offers a unique rivalry in the Indian Premier League - one between the fans of a football club [Mohun Bagan also owned by owners of LSG] and a cricket team. Last year, the franchise and the club expressed their displeasure over each other's efforts to claim turf at the Eden Gardens. This year, it shouldn't be any different.

Amidst chatter about the lack of crowd in one of India's most iconic stadiums, this contest on Tuesday presents an opportunity to test the weight of this passionate rivalry. But beyond the question of who brings the fans to the stadium is a bigger question: which of the two teams, scratchy and middling so far this season, will pick momentum and put themselves among the table toppers.

Despite the inconsistent performances so far, both teams find themselves in a position to move to the top-four by the end of Tuesday's contest. For that, they would need some of their most potent weapons to regain their prime touch, especially in the batting department.

While for KKR their biggest concern would be the lack of power-starts from their openers, which was a pivotal feature of their tournament-winning campaign last season, for LSG there are bigger concerns. Even as both Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock have one big innings to show, there is still more dependency than deliverance from them so far at the top.

For LSG, the concerns are bigger. Rishabh Pant, their captain, has struggled to find his touch. Pant, who aggregated 446 runs at 40.55 (SR: 155.40) with just one single-digit score last season, has scored only 19 runs at a strike-rate of 59.37 in three outings this season. And on a surface, where the ball is expected to hold on a bit, shot-making is not going to get any easier.

Either way, despite having won their respective previous games rather convincingly, both teams have largely been rusty and far from gaining the momentum they would like. There are ample areas to fine-tune on before heading into the middle phase of the league stage.

If there is one place where they would want to accelerate find these perfect performances coming, it would be in front of their 'home' fans!

When: Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 3.30 PM

Where: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

What to expect: This contest is being played on a new pitch, but there is barely any tinge on green on the surface. Shahbaz Ahmed, the Bengal all-rounder who is playing for LSG this season, believes there will be assistance for slower bowlers. Whether there is enough will be enough turn or not, he is expecting the ball to hold a bit on the surface

Head-to-head: LSG has a slight 3-2 edge over KKR. But at Eden Gardens, the two teams have been 1-1.

Team Watch:

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Injuries/Unavailability: Anrich Nortje, who was 'close to full fitness' till the previous game, was seen bowling in full tilt ahead of the last game. However, no information has been provided on his availability for the game against LSG.

Tactics & Matchups: Sunil Narine has been one of the few spinners who has managed to keep Nicholas Pooran in check. The mystery spinner has conceded only 171 runs off 150 balls in T20s against the southpaw, which includes a maiden Super Over. Expect a fair bit of bowling by Narine while Pooran is in the middle.

Probable XII: Quinton de Kock/Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Moeen Ali, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora

Lucknow Super Giants:

Injuries/Unavailability: Mayank Yadav is ruled out of the contest as he is still recovering from his injury

Tactics & Matchups: KKR have four left-handers in their top-six, which could push LSG to hand a greater role with the ball to Aiden Markram.

Probable XII: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi

Did you know:

• Six of the last seven afternoon games played at Eden Gardens have been won by the chasing side.

• KKR have the second worst average (15) and the second worst run rate (6.31) for the opening partnership in IPL this season. Only CSK have been worse than them on both parameters

• LSG have picked most wickets in the powerplay so far this season, whereas KKR have picked just five wickets -the joint second least by a team

What they said:

Looking at the pitch here (at Eden Gardens for tomorrow's game), and having seen how the pitch played here in the last game, it seems as if the ball will hold up a bit. I'm not sure if it'll turn a lot, but it will remain slow for sure. That's good for the bowlers - Shahbaz Ahmed, LSG all-rounder

The pitch, hopefully, plays like it played in the last game. Of course it's a day game, so the pitch won't change much over 40 overs of cricket. We've prepared ourselves to play in any sort of surface. But if the surface is similar to the one we had in the last game, then hopefully that will be a benefit for us - Ottis Gibson, KKR assistant coach