Lucknow Super Giants v Punjab Kings Tips: Punjab top bat options at big prices

• Punjab batting looking weak

• LGS look well-balanced

• Wood and Krunal good man-of-the--match contenders

Saturday April 15, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Lucknow Team News

Lucknow beat RCB in an extraordinary chase on Monday that owed a lot to two of their overseas stars.

After being dropped early on his innings, Marcus Stoinis went on to make 65 off 30 which put LSG right back in the game chasing a steep 213.

And when he got out, it was then over to Nicholas Pooran to smash an extraordinary 62 off 19. However, as is so often the case with the talented West Indian, he didn't stay around to finish the job.

Neither did Ayush Badoni but the tail got over the line in the end and this could prove to be a big win come the end of the Group Stages.

They're well-placed in second and are looking good. Kyle Mayers had a rare failure last time with the bat and the presence of Quinton de Kock looms large, especially if Mayers isn't going to bowl much.

Possible XIRahul, de Kock, Hooda, Krunal, Stoinis, Pooran, Badoni, Unadkat, Wood, Bishnoi, Khan.

Punjab Team news

Punjab are now two from four after losing to Gujarat on Thursday.

That they made a fist of it all at all was down to some excellent bowling from the likes of Sam Curran and Harpreeet Brar because their batsmen certainly didn't show up.

Once Shikhar Dhawan got out, they weren't sure whether to stick or twist and in the end crawled to 153/8, which was never going to be enough against the Titans.

Chief game-clogger was Bhanuka Rajapaksa with his 20 off 26 costing his side at least 15 runs but he wasn't the only one who couldn't get going. Only Shahrukh Khan showed any real intent from number seven but it was all too little, too late.

Their bowling looks fine, especially with Kagiso Rabada in the side but it's hard to see where Dhawan aside, their runs are going to come from. Rajapaksa may make way for Liam Livingstone.

Possible XIDhawan, Singh, Short, Livingstone, Sharma, Curran, Shahruck Khan, Brar, R Dhawan, Rabada, Arshdeep

Pitch report

We're at Lucknow for this one. LSG posted a big 193/6 against Delhi a couple of weeks ago and went on to win by 50 runs.
Last Friday they then reduced SRH to just 121/8 and chased that with ease.

In late January this year New Zealand managed just 99/8 against India, who posted 199/2 themselves against Sri Lanka in February last year, winning that one comfortably.

So an unpredictable wicket could be on the cards here. That should lead to both sides wanting to chase, especially with the side batting second having won six of the last seven in the IPL.

How to play

1.855/6 is a perfectly fair price on LSG.

They've started well and look well-balanced. A powerful batting line-up looks suited to chase while there's plenty of variety in their attack that can keep on taking wickets if they do defend.

As for Punjab, we know they can be competitive with the ball themselves but their batting line-up looks weak, they're batting certain players in the wrong position (Shahrukh should be no lower than six) and no-one bar Dhawan is in any great form.

There's nothing wrong with taking that pre-match price on LSG. An alternative strategy is to hope they chase, that Punjab get off to a good start and to try to get 2.111/10 on LSG in-play.

Punjab Top Batsman

Mr Reliable Shikhar Dhawan missed out last time and it was left to Matthew Short to top score with just 36.

A second failure in a row from Dhawan could open the door to someone in the middle or lower-middle order coming good at a big prices.

Sam Curran (9/1) continues to be given a gig at number six and a couple of big hits could have seen him come very close; he scored 22.

The same could be said of Shahrukh Khan, who also scored 22 (off just nine), and may well get promoted; at least there was some urgency to his batting.

Against a strong LSG bowling line-up, it could pay to split your money between those two.

Krunal and Wood serious MOM contenders

Krunal Pandya has already picked up one man-of-the-match award this season after taking 3/18 to go with a knock of 34 off 23 against SRH.

If he carries on bowling regularly and batting at 4 or 5 he'll carry on making important contributions and with Lucknow preferred to win the game, could be a serious MOM contender at 12/1.

As can Mark Wood. He's on nine wickets so far and his express pace could be just the sort of bowling that could destroy and uncertain and batting line-up.

He's another former MOM winner this season and could do the business again, in his case at 10/1.