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Kolkata Knight Riders face Lucknow Super Giants in a crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match with the result deciding the fortunes of both sides in the competition. LSG are currently third in the table with 15 points and a win over KKR will guarantee their spot in the playoffs. On the other hand, KKR will have to win the game to reach 14 points and depend on other results and net run rate in order to seal their spot in the top four. While the stakes literally cannot get higher, the match can be affected by rain as the city of Kolkata saw heavy rainfall and lightning on Friday.
Ki hocche, Kolkata? pic.twitter.com/KQGZ123KGJ
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) May 19, 2023
The prediction for Saturday stated that the Eden Gardens can experience heavy rainfall around 6 PM.
However, with the match starting on 7:30 PM, the situation can get better with time.
According to the latest update from the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata, there is a 54 per cent chance of rain as of 2:30 PM. Thunderstorms were also predicted by the met department.
Set to be clad in local giants Mohun Bagan’s iconic green and maroon jersey, Lucknow Super Giants would find themselves at home as they look to seal their playoff berth knocking out a hapless Kolkata Knight Riders in the final IPL game.
The real home team in this case, KKR, have not only complained of being let down by the conditions but their 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.
In fielding, they have made a mockery of themselves with some of the efforts suggesting that the two-time champions have showed they do not ‘belong’ at this level.
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, the KKR still are lucky to have been able to keep their campaign alive in ‘blow hot-n-cold’ season.
(With PTI inputs)
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