Lucknow Super Giants will bank on their batters as they search for their first points in IPL 2024 when they take on Punjab Kings in Lucknow on Saturday. That’s because their bowling attack looks thin, at least on paper.
With Englishmen Mark Wood and David Willey unavailable for this edition of the tournament, Lucknow lack firepower in the pace department. The likes of Mohsin Khan and Naveen-ul Haq will have to do a lot better to win their team matches.
In the spin department too, Ravi Bishnoi was not at his best in Lucknow’s opening loss against Rajasthan Royals. Krunal Pandya was decent though. Lucknow can think
of utilising the services of veteran leggie Amit Mishra to give them more wicket-taking options.
So it is their batters who carry a lot of importance for Lucknow. Captain KL Rahul hit a fifty in the first game, but will probably need to be more brutal in his approach if he is to win games for his team. The other batters — Quinton de Kock, Devdutt Padikkal and Nicholas Pooran — too need to play crucial rules. Pooran looked good in the last game.
The good thing for Lucknow is that Punjab too are coming off a defeat and so will not be carrying any mental advantage into the game.
Though they had won their first game before losing the second, the Shikhar Dhawan-led franchise will need to be more impactful with the bat. Most importantly, Jonny Bairstow needs to get back to his run-scoring ways after scoring only 9 and 8 in the two games so far.
With the Lucknow attack not really looking menacing, Saturday will probably be a good chance for the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone to make a rich harvest of runs.
