Lucknow: Hosts Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings in Match 34 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday. The hosts Lucknow made just one change as Shamar Joseph went out from the XI and New Zealand pacer Matt Henry came in, whereas for Chennai, Moeen Ali came in for Daryl Mitchell and Deepak Chahar came in for Shardul Thakur.
Lucknow Super Giants captain K.L. Rahul said, “We’ll bowl first. Looks like a good wicket, dew hasn’t been a big factor. Hopefully, it stays good for 40 overs. We would like to know what we are chasing. There weren’t any blunders we made. Last game against KKR was a big defeat. Still pretty relaxed.
“I know it’s the halfway mark. As a leadership group, if we panic it spreads. That’s not what I like to be. Great support staff. We are trying to keep as relaxed as possible. The pitches have been relaid here. Each time you play, it can be different. Just one change. Joseph is out, Matt Henry comes in,” he said.
Chennai Super Kings’ captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said, “We would have bowled first. We batted first in the last game and batted well. (Win against MI) A good confidence booster. Going there and defending is a big boost for us. We don’t want to get complacent. We are trying to be as consistent as possible. Just a bit lucky (on his batting), unlucky dismissal in the first two matches. Good to be back, good to be going. Everyone is confident. Two changes. Mo comes in for Mitchell, Deepak comes in for Shardul.”
Five-time champions CSK are currently third on the points table with eight points from six games. On the other hand, LSG are fifth with three wins.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super King: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana
Substitutes: Sameer Rizvi, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(wk/c), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur
Substitutes: Arshin Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yudhvir Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Arshad Khan
Ms Kalinga