Big picture
Newbies Lucknow Super Giants and oldies Chennai Super Kings both lost their opening games of IPL 2022, but neither side would be fussed just yet. In fact, Super Giants' captain KL Rahul went on to say they "couldn't have started the campaign in any better way".
Obviously it is early days in the tournament but the main reason behind Rahul saying so was Super Giants' middle order stepping up after a top-order collapse. On paper, the middle order is one of their weak areas but Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni played crucial knocks and helped them recover from a precarious 29 for 4. One thing Rahul might rue is his use of Dushmantha Chameera. Chameera was Super Giants' most threatening bowler on the night but didn't even get to bowl his full quota.
Super Kings anyway have a reputation for being calm and composed irrespective of the results. But they too found positives in the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders. MS Dhoni struck an unbeaten 50 off 38 balls and Dwayne Bravo picked up 3 for 20 from four overs. Both have retired from international cricket and their striking form straightaway is a good sign for the franchise.
After getting their feet wet, both sides will now be eyeing first points.
In the news
Super Giants will once again be without Jason Holder, who will only be available from their next match. There is no official word on Andrew Tye though. If available, he could replace Mohsin Khan given they had picked only three overseas players in their last game.
Super Kings will have Moeen Ali back. He missed their first game because of visa issues but is now likely to come in for Mitchell Santner.
Likely XIs
Lucknow Super Giants 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Andrew Tye/Mohsin Khan, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Avesh Khan
Chennai Super Kings 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja (capt), 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Shivam Dube, 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Adam Milne, 11 Tushar Deshpande
Strategy punt
At the 2021 T20 World Cup, Moeen was impressive with the ball in the powerplay. In 11 overs in that phase, he picked up five wickets at an economy rate of 5.7. Super Kings can pit him against de Kock. While de Kock has taken 53 runs off 38 balls against Moeen, the offspinner has dismissed him four times in eight T20 innings.
Krunal Pandya could be Super Giants' trump card against Super Kings' middle order. In all T20s, Krunal has conceded 37 off 33 against Robin Uthappa (two dismissals), 28 off 25 against Ambati Rayudu (two dismissals), 15 off 15 against Ravindra Jadeja (two dismissals) and 17 off 24 against Dhoni (no dismissal).
Stats that matter
Since 2018, no one has hit more sixes in the IPL than Rahul. In 56 innings, he has cleared the boundary 110 times.
In the same time frame, Dhoni has hit the joint-most sixes for an Indian in overs 16th to 20th. Both Dhoni and Hardik Pandya have hit 51 sixes each.
While Jadeja has never dismissed Rahul, he has conceded only 39 runs off 38 balls to him in all T20s.
In the IPL, Adam Milne has taken only seven wickets in ten matches, at an economy of 9.47. Outside of the IPL, he has taken 144 wickets in 127 games at an economy of 7.52.
