As Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Supergiants intend to return to winning ways, the host will hold an edge during the Indian Premier League duel at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
Having crossed 200-plus scores twice, KKR has benefitted from Caribbeans Sunil Narine and Andre Russell and Englishman Phil Salt’s fine contributions, and will rely on its foreign batters to outplay its opponent. The Indians, including captain Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Angriksh Raghuvanshi and Rinku Singh, are capable of moulding their game when necessary.
Vaibhav Arora, replacing an injured Harshit Rana, has done well, while star pacer Mitchell Starc is yet to impress. Russell and Narine have also contributed with the ball and the latter may shoulder the responsibility of spin with Varun Chakravarthy.
LSG, ahead 3-0 on head-to-head, will depend on its prominent scorers, Nicholas Pooran, K. L. Rahul and Quinton de Kock. Ayush Badoni’s half-century was a bright spot in its loss to Delhi Capitals.
The visiting side will hope Devdutt Padikkal and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis to showcase their best.
Seamers Yash Thakur, who recorded a fifer, and Afghan Naveen-ul-Haq can surprise any side while Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya are the leading spin options.
In a battle of equals, LSG may have to work hard to stop KKR, which is keen to regain momentum in the first of its five straight home matches after the loss to CSK.
The Eden Gardens, which produced 400-plus runs three weeks ago, may have regained some freshness but the hot afternoon should make the conditions batter-friendly.
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