Lucknow: In a thrilling encounter at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first against the Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants. The highlight of the toss was Iyer handing the debut cap to New Zealand’s express pacer Lockie Ferguson, who is renowned for his blistering speed, having clocked 157.3 kmph in an IPL 2022 match against Rajasthan Royals.
Iyer, expressing his strategy, stated, “We are going to bowl first. It’s a new ground, new pitch, and dew could be a factor as well. Given that it’s a red-soil pitch, we want to chase. The players have the freedom to express themselves. You have to play the situation; the important goal is to win. We try to keep things simple. We don’t know how the pitch is going to play, but we have to adjust quickly. Lockie comes into the team.”
On the other side, Pant, who retained the same XI for this crucial match, mentioned, “We wanted to bowl first, but there are things that are not under our control, so happy to bat first. There are a lot of people who have come to support us, and we are definitely going to give our best. No changes for us.”
The head-to-head record between these two teams stands at LSG leading with 3 wins to PBKS’s 1. When these teams last met in Lucknow during the previous season, which was also LSG’s first home game, the hosts clinched a 21-run victory.
Playing XIs:
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Shardul Thakur, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh