Match: Lucknow vs Punjab
Date: April 15, Saturday, 7.30 PM IST
Venue: Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Lucknow and Punjab will meet each other in the 21st match of the Indian T20 League 2023 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Lucknow are currently placed at the second position in the points table after winning three of their four matches. They beat Delhi in their opening game, lost to Chennai in their second match, and then won the next two. Delhi come into this game on the back of a last-ball win over Bangalore. Fielding first, they allowed Bangalore to score 212 runs in 20 overs. But their batsmen chased down the big total on the last ball of the game. M Stoinis and N Pooran scored a half century each; N Pooran scored the fastest fifty of the season off just 15 balls.
Punjab, on the other hand, have two wins in four games. They come into this game on the back of a loss to Gujarat, against whom they were unable to defend a total of 153. Punjab have confirmed that L Livingstone has been training with the team, but the all-rounder is still not fully fit to be able to play, so he will be rested for this game as well.
Ahead of the 21st game of Indian T20 League 2023, check out the weather update, pitch report and top players to pick on the MPL app.
Weather update and pitch report
The match will be played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, where the pitch will assist the pace bowlers. But the batsman will also have a say in the game. Anything above 170 will be a competitive target.
The weather in Lucknow will be humid. The temperature will be above 31 degree Celsius. Rain is not forecast.
Punjab team news and predicted XI
Team news: L Livingstone has joined the team, but he will not be playing this game. K Rabada – who was expensive against Gujarat – could be replaced by N Ellis in the playing XI
Full squad: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prabhsimran Singh(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Kagiso Rabada, Baltej Singh, Gurnoor Brar.
Predicted XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, M Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh
Lucknow team news and predicted XI
Team news: Q de Kock arrived in India a few days ago, but was not in the playing XI in both the last two matches as K Mayers had a good start to the season. But with Mayers not being able to deliver in the last two games, we expected de Kock in the XI.
Full squad: KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ayush Badoni, Mark Wood, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Daniel Sams, Romario Shepherd, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Amit Mishra, Manan Vohra
Predicted XI: Q de Kock, KL Rahul (capt), D Hooda, K Pandya, M Stoinis, N Pooran (wk), A Badoni, J Unadkat, M Wood, R Bishnoi, A Khan
LKN vs PUN: Head to head record
Lucknow and Punjab have only played one game in the past, which was won by Lucknow.
LKN vs PUN: Five players to watch out for
Here we list five players to watch out for in the game
Nicholas Pooran – wicketkeeper batsman, Lucknow
In the last game against Bangalore, Nicholas Pooran scored the fastest fifty of the season off just 15 deliveries and will thus be high on confidence. Earlier in the tournament he scored 36 against Delhi and 32 against Chennai. He is currently the leading run scorer for Lucknow with 141 runs from just four innings. Pooran, a destructive batsman, has an impressive strike rate of 143.16 in his 265-game T20 career.
Shikhar Dhawan – batsman, Punjab
Shikhar Dhawan had a rare failure in the previous game against Gujarat in which he scored just eight runs. But he is still the leading run scorer in the tournament this year with 233 runs from four innings. Dhawan started the season with a 40 against Kolkata, followed by an unbeaten 86 and an unbeaten 99 against Rajasthan and Hyderabad respectively. In all, Dhawan 6086 runs in the tournament’s history, at an average and strike rate of 35.18 and 126.92.
KL Rahul – Lucknow
Lucknow captain KL Rahul has been disappointing in all four matches he has played so far. He got out cheaply in the first game, and was not able to convert his starts in the following three matches. But he has been one of the most consistent performers in the tournament for the last four years. The Lucknow skipper was the second leading run-scorer in the tournament last year with 616 runs from 15 innings, including two centuries and four fifties.
PrabhSimran Singh – batsman, Punjab
Prabhsimran Singh was dismissed on a duck in the last game against Gujarat but overall he has scored 83 runs this season at a strike rate of 169.38. His best knock came against Rajasthan when he scored 60 off just 34 deliveries.
Mark Wood – bowler, Lucknow
Right arm pacer Mark Wood started the season with a bang, picking up five wickets against Delhi while conceding just 14 runs. He continued the good run in the next game, picking up three wickets against Chennai. He now has nine wickets from just three innings and will be spearheading Lucknow’s pace bowling in the next game. Overall Wood has 74 wickets in 52 T20s and 45 wickets in 28 T20 internationals.
MPL XI
LKN vs PUN – where and what time to watch the match live in India
The Lucknow vs Punjab match will be televised on the Star Sports Network. You can also watch the live streaming of the game on the Jio cinema app. The match will begin at 7.30 PM IST on April 15.
Check out our detailed guide on fantasy cricket for more tips and tricks. https://www.mpl.live/blog/todays-match-prediction/
Note: The players recommended here need not be a part of the Playing 11 on game day. Users are advised to do their own research also and follow official sources and create their teams.
Note: The players recommended here need not be a part of the Playing 11 on game day. Users are advised to do their own research also and follow official sources and create their teams.
