Skipper Pant’s form in focus as LSG take on KKR at Eden

LSG skipper Rishabh Pant during a practice session in Kolkata on Sunday. Pic/PTI

Lucknow Super Giants have come to the Eden Gardens with two lovely little stories.

Shardul Thakur, unsold at the auction and coming into IPL-18 as an injury replacement, has made immediate impact. The 33-year-old's match-winning four wicket-haul against Sunrisers Hyderabad was followed last Friday by a telling 19th over in which he conceded just seven to shut out Mumbai Indians.
Then, there is 25-year-old Digvesh Rathi, Man of the Match in that MI game, who has played only a couple of T20 matches for Delhi before creating a flutter this IPL with his impressive leg-spin bowling and the cocky ‘signing off' of dismissed batsmen.

LSG's rich bowling line-up

Avesh Khan, Akash Deep and Ravi Bishnoi too bring guile and guts to LSG's ‘desi' attack, which is beginning to find its feet. But then, that is not where the main threat comes from for Kolkata Knight Riders, who take on Rishabh Pant and his men here on Tuesday afternoon.

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Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, the top-three in LSG's batting order, are at the peak of their powers and can provide the perfect launch-pad for other power-hitters that follow. Young Ayush Badoni, one of the five LSG retentions before the auction, is showing his worth while David Miller's finishing flourish is still a dreaded event. Skipper Pant is struggling to find form but the Knights will still be suitably wary. "We know how dangerous he can be. Of course, he hasn't had any form yet, and we hope that continues this week as well," said KKR's assistant coach Ottis Gibson.

KKR's bowling unit, so impressive during the 80-run win here over Sunrisers last week, need to do an encore - early wickets and then the choke.

KKR need good Powerplay

While skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and later, Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh, took their rewards for respecting the conditions at the Eden on Thursday, KKR will be looking for a better Powerplay from Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine. Despite reaching the 200-mark for the first time this season, KKR's batting has not quite hit the straps. They are up against a smart bowling unit mentored by Zaheer Khan. Shardul has happy memories of the Eden from two months ago when he paved the way for Mumbai's passage to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals with a fifer against Haryana. Akash Deep and spinning all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, who may well get to play considering the conditions, know the ground even better as Bengal players.

The postponement of the match from Sunday provides LSG the much-needed rest as they brace themselves for a joust with the defending champions in the searing heat of a Kolkata summer.