Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Navi Mumbai
Time: 3:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 194
Win percentage while batting first: 40%
Pitch conditions:
- Mumbai and Lucknow will face-off on a perfect batting track and conditions at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
- With an average first-innings score of 194, the team batting first will aim for a total around 200 which has been recorded twice in the last four matches here.
- Fast bowlers have a wicket-share of 60.94% compared to the spinners’ 39.06%.
Weather prediction:
It will be a hot and slightly humid day in Mumbai on Saturday with the mercury topping 32°C in the afternoon. The humidity levels will range between 50-65% during the match hours on Saturday.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: -
Mumbai won: -
Lucknow won: -
No result: -
Top 3 players from Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma
Top 3 players from Lucknow: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Basil Thampi
Top 5 players from Lucknow: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis
Q & A:
Fantasy tips and tricks: Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
The Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai is all set to dish out yet another perfect batting pitch on Saturday afternoon when the struggling Mumbai take on the formidable Lucknow team under the captaincy of KL Rahul. This is a contest between the two Indian leaders with R Sharma’s team struggling on all counts and KL Rahul’s team among the best performers so far. For this clash, a long batting line-up and a team inclusive of good number of pacers will be the right approach to make the fantasy cricket playing XI.
Fantasy tips: From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
With Mumbai going through one of their worst phases in the history of the tournament with a shocking five-match losing streak and Lucknow winning 3 out of their 5 matches so far, there is hardly any doubt over which team is stronger. Indeed, Lucknow look more balanced and in-form than Mumbai, who are struggling with their bowling having not selected enough spin bowling options and their big runs in captain R Sharma and senior player Kieron Pollard have failed to make a mark.
MORE INFORMATION: Despite their spirited fightback against Punjab with the bat, Mumbai have a lot of ground to cover especially with their bowling. The five-time winners’ bowling attack has been pulverised often in this tournament and R Sharma and the management would know that it will be difficult for the team to go the distance in this tournament with such performances. On the other hand, Lucknow too would want more from their bowlers as their firepower lies more on the end of the batsmen — the team necessarily strikes the right balance.
PLAYERS’ FORM: For Mumbai to end their wretched run of results in the competition, they will need big runs from the likes of R Sharma and Kieron Pollard. The burly West Indian ran himself out on a pivotal moment against Punjab and with the middle-order consisting of young guns such as Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma — who have the capabilities but not the experience — Pollard will be needed to chip in. For Lucknow, their bowlers need to deliver more than what they have so far. The form of KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda make the Lucknow batting line-up look intimidating.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
MUMBAI: R Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Kieron Pollard, Fabian Allen, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat.
LUCKNOW: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi.
FANTASY XI: R Sharma, KL Rahul (c&wk), Ishan Kishan/Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Quinton de Kock, Dewald Brevis, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Jaydev Unadkat.
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Struggling Mumbai take on promising Lucknow in a must-win clash
The five-time title winners Mumbai could be close to finding themselves in do-or-die situations in their remaining nine matches of the 15th edition of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 following five consecutive losses so far, which have kept them at the bottom of the points table with each of the other nine teams recording at least one victory so far.
Mumbai will thus be desperate to end their wretched run of results on Saturday afternoon when they face a promising Lucknow side under the captaincy of KL Rahul — a team which has a lot of promise with the bat but is seeking more from their bowlers on the road ahead.
In the contest to be played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, where totals in excess of 200 have been recorded twice in the last four matches by teams batting first and the other two scores being in excess of 180, the R Sharma-led team would know that their tasks are cut out for the contest against Lucknow.
The problem lies in Mumbai’s bowling — they have taken a total of 2 wickets in the powerplay overs (overs 0.0-5.6) in the last three matches after making a promising start to the tournament with the ball. This is how the opposition teams have fared against Mumbai in their five matches so far (most recent first): Punjab 65-0, Bangalore 30-0, Kolkata 35-2, Rajasthan 48-2 and Delhi 46-3.
With the bat, Mumbai have a lot of improvement left to do. Apart from requiring runs from R Sharma and Kieron Pollard, they also need batsmen to convert starts into big scores. Suryakumar Yadav’s form is a blessing in such a scenario — he has scored three consecutive fifties but all in losing causes.
On their part, Lucknow will look to make amends when they take the field on Saturday, having lost their previous match to Rajasthan by a narrow margin of 3 runs. Lucknow have a well-oiled batting unit with Marcus Stoinis being an excellent, valuable addition to the lower-order but they need more from their pacers, who have been on and off so far.
As far as leg-spinners are concerned, Lucknow leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi is lagging behind the two senior India leg-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who are also the top two wicket-takers in the tournament so far.
While Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have taken 12 and 10 wickets in 5 and 4 matches played respectively, Lucknow’s Ravi Bishnoi has only 4 dismissals in his kitty from 5 matches.
