Up against Kolkata, Lucknow eyes play-off berth

KOLKATA: Set to be clad in local giant Mohun Bagan’s iconic green and maroon jersey, Lucknow Super Giants would find itself at home as it looks to seal its playoff berth knocking out a hapless Kolkata Knight Riders in the final IPL game, here on Saturday.

The real home team in this case, KKR, has not only complained of being let down by the conditions but its problems go deeper, having struggled to find a perfect winning combination in a topsy-turvy season, enduring seven defeats.

Out of those seven, four losses were at the Eden Gardens. Be it the batting, which still seems to be a work in progress, the bowling, especially pace department, has also looked terribly short on experience. KKR batters simply have not been able to adapt to the surface while batting first as they scored below-par totals of 179/7 and 149/8 against Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals respectively.

Putting things into perspective, CSK and SRH scored 235/4 and 228/4 when they were put into bat by KKR at the same venue. Courtesy, some individual brilliance from Rinku Singh and Varun Chakravarthy, KKR still is lucky to have been able to keep its campaign alive.

With a heavy mid-table traffic, there is a possibility of four teams to be locked on 14 points with the one with a superior net run-rate making the playoffs. LSG however does not have to fret so much about the mathematical scenarios as a win would be enough for it to seal its backto-back playoff berth.

On momentum too, LSG looks far superior to a struggling KKR which has struggled to get into the act at its home. Elevated to captaincy after KL Rahul’s pull-out because of injury, Krunal Pandya looked a natural leader, especially the way he managed to choke Mumbai Indians while defending 177 speaks volumes about his captaincy. Not only did he look heavily involved, his tactical bowling changes paved the way for its slender five-run win the other day.