Follow UsIPL 2022 has already seen a lot of firsts.
It is the first IPL, for instance, to see a team begin its campaign with eight consecutive losses. It is also the first IPL to see a team win eight of its first nine matches. IPL 2022 is also the first IPL to see captains elect to bowl first for 34 consecutive matches.
On Tuesday, the competition is set to witness another first.
For the first time in the history of the Indian Premier League, two new franchises will be involved in a top-of-the-table clash at the back end of the season. Tuesday’s clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans at the MCA Stadium in Pune is so significant that the winner will not just seal a spot in the playoffs, but likely a seat in the top two.
Both Lucknow and Gujarat, prior to the season, were expected to be threats to the existing ‘big’ franchises, but no one quite expected the two sides to dominate the competition the way they have.
With 15 games still left to be played in the group stages, both LSG and GT are sitting mighty at the top of the table with 16 points, and the two new franchises, in all fairness, have already nailed down a spot in the playoffs. The two sides, led by KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya respectively, have been ‘victory machines’, and, in their own quirky way, have managed to make individuals step up game after game to deliver them the W.
Rahul’s Lucknow, who are currently table-toppers by virtue of Net Run Rate, will enter Tuesday’s clash as marginal favorites thanks to their recent form, but Pandya’s Gujarat, despite having lost each of their last two encounters, will walk into the contest no less confident, knowing that there’s potentially a spot in the Top Two up for grabs.
Gujarat need to get back on track after back-to-back sloppy showings
There was a point in the season where it seemed like the Titans could do no wrong. They’d astonishingly won 8 of their first 9 matches, and it seemed like they somehow, naturally, repelled defeat. Post the miraculous win against SRH — a game where GT stole victory by scoring 25 runs in the final over — skipper Pandya even joked that his team had ‘God’ on its side.
But having suffered reality checks against both Punjab and Mumbai, the Titans will enter the Lucknow clash knowing that there is a need to tidy up. They will know that they cannot afford to lose momentum, especially with the knockouts not too far away.
Against both PBKS and MI, it was the batting that let the Titans down. While the Punjab clash saw GT post an unremarkable 143 after winning the toss and opting to bat, they fluffed a regulation chase against Mumbai despite, at one point, needing 29 to win off 3 overs with 7 wickets in hand.
No individual did well in each of the two matches, but skipper Pandya will look back on his efforts and feel that it is he who needs to step up against the Super Giants come Tuesday.
Pandya had an outstanding start to his IPL 2022 campaign, accumulating 295 runs in the first 6 matches at a remarkable average of 73.75, but his form has fallen off in the second half of the campaign. In 4 innings post his match-winning 67 against KKR, Pandya has amassed 38 runs at an average of 9.5, unable to get into any rhythm.
He had a hand in GT’s last two defeats too, struggling to 1 off 7 balls versus Punjab before failing to take the team over the line against Mumbai, involving himself in a lazy run out at a crucial juncture.
Now that Pandya is no longer bowling, there is pressure on the skipper to get back scoring consistently, particularly in this far-from-perfect GT batting line-up that relies on a couple of batters to do the heavy lifting.
The skipper aside, GT will also be hoping for Mohammed Shami to hit his stride again. After a sizzling start to the season, the veteran has fizzled out in the past few games. In his last 3 games, Shami has taken just two wickets while conceding 124 off 12 overs and has especially been poor outside the powerplay, leaking runs at an eye-watering 14.5 runs per over.
Gujarat did well to ride their luck mid-season, but it’s time for them now to recuperate and get back to their best. Anything less will see them be bulldozed by the in-form Lucknow side.
LSG will want young Ayush Badoni to regain his touch
It was in the reverse fixture, the first respective IPL games for LSG and GT respectively, that 22-year-old Ayush Badoni announced himself to the world. Badoni, heading into the first LSG vs GT clash, was a completely unknown entity, but there he played a knock that made heads turn, as he nonchalantly smashed the likes of Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami en route posting a nerveless half-century. He followed that fifty up with sizzling cameos against CSK, SRH and Delhi Capitals and it seemed that the youngster was on the verge of something special.
In the second half of the season, however, it just hasn’t quite happened for Badoni. True that Badoni has been shuffled up and down the order, but he’s struggled for touch and rhythm in the past month, amassing 51 runs in 5 innings at a strike rate of 96.2. In Lucknow’s previous clash against KKR, he had the time to play himself in and then explode, walking into bat in the 13th over, but he could only manage a scratchy 15*(18), flabbergastingly not striking a single boundary.
Such a dip is completely natural for someone that’s playing for the first time in the top flight, but it goes without saying that Lucknow would love to see Badoni regain lost form. Thanks to Stoinis and Holder, LSG were able to post a winning total against KKR, but there might arise a situation in the playoffs where the game might rest in Badoni’s hands. LSG would want the 22-year-old to be oozing confidence should such a scenario come to fruition.
Probable XIs
LSG: Quinton de Kock (wk), KL Rahul (c), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan
GT: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Pradeep Sangwan, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami