The match, originally scheduled on Sunday (April 6), was postponed to Tuesday (April 8) after the police in Kolkata raised concerns over providing security due to Ram Navami celebrations in the city.
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Digvesh Rathi, who has been one of the standout performers of this season’s IPL, will be up against his idol Sunil Narine when Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) take on the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a midweek afternoon match at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
The match, originally scheduled on Sunday (April 6), was postponed to Tuesday (April 8) after the police in Kolkata raised concerns over providing security due to Ram Navami celebrations in the city.
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Having experienced an identical start to their IPL 2025 campaigns, with two wins and as many losses, both KKR and LSG will aim to seize the momentum on Tuesday. Heading into the contest after recording convincing victories in their respective previous matches, both sides will high on confidence.
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For the home side, it has been a season of mixed returns so far. After early defeats to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians, KKR signalled their return to form with a clinical display in their last outing that earned them an 80-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. The highlight of that win was their costliest buy, Venkatesh Iyer finally justifying the hefty price tag while Rinku Singh and veteran Ajinkya Rahane provided vital contributions. Additionally, youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi has also impressed with his fluent batting.
The only area of concern for the home side is their opening combination, involving Narine and South African Quinton de Kock. The duo has failed to consistently fire in unison, and as a result their highest opening partnership of this season has been 44 runs.
The West Indian has looked off-colour and his repeated failures at the top of the order could also force a change, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Raghuvanshi is pushed up alongside de Kock.
Despite his inconsistency with the bat, Narine is KKR’s asset in the bowling department, and with his fan boy — Rathi — in the opposite camp, it could turn out an exciting contest on a pitch that traditionally assists the shower bowlers.
Rathi, who was spotted after a strong Delhi Premier League showing, now finds himself against the man who ‘shaped his cricketing dream’. “I fell in love with bowling after watching Sunil Narine,” Rathi said after bagging the Player of the Match award, adding, “I want to stay calm like him, attack batters, and be fearless in crunch situations.”
In four matches so far, Rathi has taken six wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.62, conceding more than eight runs per over only once. While his bowling has earned accolades, Rathi has been reprimanded a couple of times for his Kesrick Williams’ notebook celebration, and now sits on three demerit points — a point away from a one-match suspension.
While whether Rathi manages to control his emotions against his idol remains to be seen, the Lucknow Super Giants, fresh from a 12-run victory against MI, will hope for their batting mainstay Mitchell Marsh to lead the proceedings with the bat. Against Hardik Pandya & Co, Marsh and Aiden Markram were the chief architects of the victory, scoring half centuries.
Besides the duo, Nicholas Pooran has also been in great form this IPL, releasing the pressure from new skipper Rishabh Pant, whose poor run thus far in the IPL has already sparked criticism, given his hefty Rs 27 crore package.
The LSG captain must be feeling the heat and will be eager to spark a turnaround, especially in team owner’s Sanjeev Goenka’s backyard. With memories still fresh of Goenka’s much-talked-about ‘schooling’ of KL Rahul last season, questions are beginning to surface about how long Pant’s underwhelming form will be tolerated.
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Mayank Markande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Chetan Sakariya.
Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Himmat Singh, Shamar Joseph, Aryan Juyal, Arshin Kulkarni, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manimaran Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Yadav.
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