Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will be facing Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at home in the 45th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) on Wednesday, May 3. Lucknow, after recording 257 runs against Punjab Kings last week, failed to chase a 127-run target against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last game. They relinquished to the third position in the IPL points table with five wins from their opening nine games this season.
LSG lost skipper KL Rahul to a hip flexor injury and Jaydev Unadkat suffered a shoulder injury during a training session prior to the RCB game. Manan Vohra is expected to open in Rahul’s absence while English speedster Mark Wood is available for this game.
Chennai Super Kings enter this fixture after back-to-back defeats, including a frustrating four-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings in the latest clash. Conway’s 92* helped them post a total of 200/4 but Punjab Kings managed to pull off a sensational victory in a last-ball thriller. MS Dhoni-led side has registered five wins from their opening nine games and a win against Lucknow will boost them to the top of the points table. CSK won the first-leg game against LSG this season while defending 217 runs at home and will be looking to take motivation from that win to produce a similar outcome.
Match Details
Match: IPL 2023, Match 45
Venue: Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Time: 3:30 PM IST
Broadcast and Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and JioCinema
Probable Playing XIs
Lucknow Super Giants: Manan Vohra, Kyle Mayers, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya (C), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Amit Mishra
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Singh
Pitch and Weather Report
The pitch at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium offers a balanced surface in white-ball cricket. Fans witnessed a low-scoring clash during the LSG-RCB game with bowlers dominating on the black-soil surface. But red-soil surface is expected to be used for the upcoming game which will clearly favor batters for a big total.
There is no strong forecast of rain for this fixture. Temperature is likely to hover around 28 degree Celsius during game time and there is an 8% of chance of rain.
Predictions
Best Batter of the Match: Devon Conway
Devon Conway recorded his highest IPL score during his last innings against Punjab Kings. The Kiwi opener smashed 92* off 52 to help CSK post a 200-plus total and also bagged a Player of the Match award despite a negative outcome. Conway is the third-highest run-getter in IPL 2023 with 414 runs from nine innings at an average of 59.14 and a strike rate of 144.25 with the help of five fifties so far.
Best Bowler of the Match: Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has struggled to impress with a bat this season but has been in excellent form with a ball so far. He picked two wickets for 32 against Punjab Kings in the last game and has taken 13 wickets from nine games at an impressive economy rate of 7.50 in IPL 2023.
Who will win the Match: Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
