The KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants will take on the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL 2023 game in Lucknow on Monday. LSG are currently placed second in the 10-team table with 10 points from eight games, while RCB are at the sixth spot with eight points from as many games. The game in Lucknow, thus, will be crucial for both as LSG can top the table if they defeat RCB. On the other hand the visitors have a chance to enter the top-four if they defeat LSG by a very big margin.
However, weather might have an impact on the game. It rained heavily in Lucknow four hours before the toss. However, clear skies were seen after that. According to Accuweather, there is a 15 per cent probability of precipitation in Lucknow in the evening, which increases to 25 per cent at night. It would be interesting to see whether it rains during the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will aim to shed the over reliance on their celebrated top-order when they face a belligerent Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL in Lucknow on Monday. RCB have struggled to maintain momentum provided by Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell, who have done all the scoring in the eight games so far.
With most teams bunched up closely in the standings, the margin for errors has reduced in the second half of the competition.
Kohli, du Plessis and Maxwell can’t be expected to do the job in every game and it is high time the likes of Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dinesh Karthik step up.
The fielding and catching too needs to improve, something which was pointed by Kohli himself after the loss to KKR.
The former India captain will continue to lead the side unless du Plessis, who has been used as an ‘Impact Player’, regains full fitness.
Mohammad Siraj has been the stand out bowler for RCB and he needs support from the other fast bowlers. Harshal Patel is tasked with bowling the tough overs but he would want to bring down his economy rate from 9.94.
With PTI inputs
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