Lucknow: Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
A win for Lucknow at their home ground will take them to the top of the points table. Lucknow have won two of their three games at home in IPL 2023. The pitch for Saturday’s match is the one used by Lucknow for their game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 7, where they won by five wickets.
After winning the toss, Hardik said fast-bowler Alzarri Joseph misses out and left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad comes into the playing eleven. “Looks like a slow track, want to get the best out of it. There is no time to test our batters now.”
“On this wicket, the better option is to bat first. We’re not worried about our record while chasing. Even if the records say that we still have to do a good job.”
Lucknow skipper KL Rahul said fast-bowler Yudhvir Singh Charak misses out and veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra enters the playing eleven. “I would have batted but not worried about it. We will play good cricket. We bowled against SRH as well, we would like to restrict them to a good target and chase it down.”
“Trusted the 12-13 players, have had a few injuries, each game someone has put their hand up and done the job for the team. We are gelling together well.”
Playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (captain), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad and Mohit Sharma
Substitutes: Josh Little, Jayant Yadav, Shivam Mavi, R Sai Kishore, KS Bharat
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (captain), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran (wicket-keeper), Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi
Substitutes: Jaydev Unadkat, Krishnappa Gowtham, Daniel Sams, Prerak Mankad, Karan Sharma.
(IANS)
