KL Rahul was missing the playing eleven when Nicholas Pooran walked out for Lucknow Super Giants for the toss against Punjab Kings on Saturday. Pooran won the crucial toss and elected to bat first at Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Pooran revealed that KL Rahul is returning from an injury and the management is considering him playing as an impact player against Punjab Kings. Lucknow made two changes to their team that suffered a big defeat against Rajasthan Royals in their first game of the season.
"We'll bat first," Nicholas Pooran said. "Looks like a good track, runs on the board could be vital. KL is coming back from injury and we're looking to give him a break in such a long tournament, but he'll play as an impact player today. Everyone must take the opportunities and perform at their best."
KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock opened an innings for Lucknow Super Giants with the former coming in as an impact player. At Rahul's expense, LSG benched Naveen-ul-Haq and Yash Thakur but included youngsters Mayank Yadav and Manimaran Siddarth in their playing eleven for the first time.
Either Naveen or Ashton Turner is expected to replace Rahul when Lucknow bowl in the second innings as they name only three overseas stars Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran and Quinton de Kock in their playing eleven.
Lucknow Super Giants playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), KL Rahul (as an impact player), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (c), Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth.
Substitutes: Ashton Turner, Naveen-ul-Haq, Amit Mishra, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham.
Punjab Kings playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Substitutes: Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Roussouw, Tanay Thagarajan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Bhatia.
