Lucknow Super Giants Banking on Batting Strength in IPL 2024 Clash Against Punjab Kings
Bowling Challenges Loom as Lucknow Seeks First Points; Batsmen Need to Step Up
Lucknow Super Giants will rely on their batsmen as they seek for their first points in IPL 2024 when they take on Punjab Kings in Lucknow on Saturday. That’s because their bowling attack appears scant, at least on paper.
With Englishmen Mark Wood and David Willey unavailable for this edition of the tournament, Lucknow lack potency in the pace department. The likes of Mohsin Khan and Naveen-ul Haq will have to do a lot better to win their team matches.
In the spin department too, Ravi Bishnoi was not at his best in Lucknow’s opening loss against Rajasthan Royals. Krunal Pandya was solid though. Lucknow can think of employing the services of veteran leggie Amit Mishra to offer them more wicket-taking options.
So it is their batters who bear a lot of importance for Lucknow. Captain KL Rahul struck a fifty in the first game, but will undoubtedly need to be more ruthless in his approach if he is to win games for his team. The other batsmen — Quinton de Kock, Devdutt Padikkal and Nicholas Pooran — too need to play crucial principles. Pooran appeared excellent in the last contest.
The positive news for Lucknow is that Punjab too are coming off a defeat and so will not be bearing any mental advantage into the contest.
Though they had won their first game before losing the second, the Shikhar Dhawan-led franchise will need to be more impactful with the bat. Most significantly, Jonny Bairstow needs to get back to his run-scoring methods after netting only 9 and 8 in the two games so far.
With the Lucknow attack not really looking menacing, Saturday will probably be a good opportunity for the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone to make a bountiful harvest of runs.
