Big picture
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants have four wins each from six games so far this season, with only net run rate separating them on the points table. With their closest contenders, the table-topping Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad, not scheduled to be in action until Saturday, this is a chance for both Royal Challengers and Super Giants to shake things up at the top of the table.
Royals Challengers and Super Giants have had contrasting paths, more so on the batting front, in this IPL. Dinesh Karthik's finishing skills have carried Royal Challengers' otherwise shaky batting line-up, with their captain Faf du Plessis even admitting that the top order is yet to fire. As for Super Giants, their openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock have clicked together at the top, easing the burden on the middle order. The No.3 spot, in particular, has been a revolving door for Super Giants, with Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, and K Gowtham all getting look-ins.
The bowling attacks are more or less evenly matched, with the arrivals of Josh Hazlewood and Marcus Stoinis providing more options for Royal Challengers and Super Giants respectively.
Likely XIs
Lucknow Super Giants: 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Ayush Badoni, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Ravi Bishnoi.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Suyash Prabhudessai, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
Strategy punt
Karthik has been particularly brutal on any kind of pace - even Mustafizur Rahman's grippy offcutters weren't spared. However, he hasn't been as strong against wristspin, so there is a case for Super Giants to hold back at least an over of Ravi Bishnoi for Karthik.
Since 2020, Karthik has managed only 42 off 47 balls against right-arm wristspinners while being dismissed seven times in 14 T20 innings. Bishnoi hasn't dismissed Karthik yet in 20 balls but has conceded just 25 runs.
Stats that matter
Jason Holder seems to enjoy playing against Royal Challengers. He has taken two or more wickets three times in five innings against them. In all, he has picked up nine wickets in five innings against them at an average of 14.33 and economy rate of 7.58.
Glenn Maxwell has dismissed Rahul twice in four T20 innings while giving up just 20 runs off 18 balls.
Karthik's first-ten-balls strike rate of 214 is the best among batters with a minimum of 75 runs this season.
Super Giants (8.61) and Royal Challengers (7.86) have the worst and third-worst economy rates in the powerplay in IPL 2022.
Avesh Khan has bagged five wickets each in the powerplay and death in IPL 2022. T Natarajan is the only other bowler with at least five wickets each in these two phases.
