Follow UsWe’re down to the last three games of IPL 2022, and on Wednesday at the Eden Gardens, Lucknow Super Giants will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore for the right to take on Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2. The two sides met once in the group stages, and on that occasion, it was Faf du Plessis’ RCB that came out on top. However, despite having already beaten LSG once earlier in the season, the Reds will enter Wednesday’s clash needing to bury ghosts of the past: in each of the last two seasons, RCB were knocked out in the Eliminator.
Ground Details
The Eliminator between LSG and RCB will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Wednesday’s clash will, of course, be only the second game at the Eden in IPL 2022. Qualifier 1 between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals was the first game that was played in Kolkata in IPL 2022, and that encounter turned out to be a very high scoring encounter. Batting first, RR posted 188/6 in their 20 overs, and the target was rather comfortably chased down by GT, who won with three balls to spare.
What was noticeable in Tuesday’s clash was that there was considerable movement with the new ball; the pacers got good purchase early on. For Gujarat, both Shami and Yash Dayal made the new ball talk, while for Rajasthan, Trent Boult did Trent Boult things. But that being said, despite the wicket offering decent purchase for the quicker bowlers, it was still, largely, a batting paradise.
There wasn’t great help for the spinners, with Ashwin, Chahal and Sai Kishore registering combined figures of 1/115 off the 12 overs they bowled. Despite this, however, Rashid Khan bowled one of the best spells of the tournament as he finished with figures of 0/15 off his 4. Rashid, though, is a freak: come Wednesday, don’t expect a lot of purchase for the spinners.
The wicket also undoubtedly was better to bat on in the second innings. Eden is also a tough ground to defend, so expect the captain winning the toss to opt to chase.
Suggested Team
Suggested captain
Glenn Maxwell has flown under the radar a bit this season, but the Australian has been as integral to RCB’s success as anyone else. He’s struck 268 runs at a strike rate of 173, while he’s also been an absolute menace with the ball, picking up 6 wickets at an ER of 7.04. Virat Kohli was awarded the MOTM award against the Titans, but Maxwell was RCB’s true MVP in that game: a sizzling 40* of 18 with the bat to go along with an invaluable 1/28 with the ball. Maxwell has been on fire with both bat and ball this season, and is the most obvious choice for captain.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Maxwell to score 18-26 runs with the bat and take 1-2 wickets with the ball
X-factors
Talking about x-factors, few in the entire league have impacted games with the ball like Wanindu Hasaranga has. With 24 wickets, the leggie is the second highest wicket-taker in the league so far, and he’s been in some form of late, having taken 8 wickets in the last 3 matches. In fact, it was only a couple of games ago that Hasaranga took a five-fer. He is someone who needs to be backed without second thoughts.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Hasaranga to take 2-3 wickets against LSG
Up until Lucknow’s final game of the group stages against Kolkata Knight Riders, Quinton de Kock had enjoyed decent success without fame, but against KKR, the southpaw became the talk of the town by playing one of the greatest IPL knocks of all time. De Kock posted the third-highest individual score in IPL history, and mauled every single bowler. In the form he is in, then, it’s a no-brainer to pick him in your fantasy side.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts de Kock to score 40-60 runs with the bat
Harshal Patel was able to bowl only one over in RCB’s previous game due to injury, but, prior to that, he was in sensational form. The right-armer had picked up 8 wickets in the preceding three matches, and was starting to showcase the kind of wicket-taking prowess he had in the 2021 season. With Harshal now said to have recovered from the finger injury, he is someone that needs to be one of the first picks in your fantasy XI.
Our Criclytics Player Projection predicts Harshal Patel to pick 1-2 wickets vs LSG
Probable XIs
RCB: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood
LSG: Quinton de Kock (wk), KL Rahul (c), Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi