IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's LSG vs DC match
A team on the up is meeting a team on the verge of drowning in IPL 2024 at Lucknow's BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow today.
The hosts, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), suffered a big defeat in their first match but have since three on the trot to sit at third in the points table. The visitors, Delhi Capitals (DC), have won just once against Chennai Super Kings at their adopted home in Vizag and lost three to hold the wooden spoon in the competition.
The Ekana looked like a flat surface at the start of the tournament but LSG's match against the Gujarat Titans earlier in the week had something for everyone. With Kuldeep Yadav's fitness still under the cloud, that's exactly what DC's attack needs as it'll at least give them a chance to compete and turn things around.
On that note, here's our prediction on which three bowlers could have the best time in the game:
#3 Krunal Pandya
Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya has been in superb form for LSG in IPL 2024. He hadn't picked up a wicket till the GT game but was bowling with an economy rate of under seven. Against GT, he took out Sai Sudharsan, BR Sharath, and Darshan Nalkande at the cost of just 11 runs in his brilliant four-over spell.
Thanks to more consistent action and effort, he seems much more accurate in IPL 2024 than the previous two seasons, with the Ekana pitch supporting him too.
Krunal also has a pretty decent record against DC - 10 wickets from 16 games at 26.50. The visitors have a host of left-handers in their line-up but none of them have been clinical against spin in the last two seasons, which will give Krunal a lot of hope from this game.
#2 Axar Patel
If a pitch is helping Krunal, it'll also help Axar Patel. The tall left-arm spinner stepped up in Kuldeep's absence in the last match against Mumbai Indians, taking out openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. He was also the only DC player to concede less than nine runs per over.
Axar has neither played a lot against LSG nor in Lucknow in the IPL. But most of LSG's right-handed batters look out of touch and Axar would love to take on KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and even Devdutt Padikkal in the middle overs.
If DC have to stay alive in IPL 2024, they'll need their senior spinner to continue the good work.
#1 Yash Thakur
Mayank Yadav would have been on this list but the pacer picked up an injury in the last match and is uncertain to feature tonight. LSG might not want to take a risk with him either in a home game against the lowest-ranked side.
It's only fitting we give his spot to the man who replaced him with aplomb - Yash Thakur. The underrated Vidarbha quick took 5/30 against GT, starting by bowling Shubman Gill out and then destroying the visitors' lower order.
Although DC have started to pick up in the top-order, Prithvi Shaw and David Warner still don't encourage confidence against swing. Moreover, their lower order is heavily reliant on Tristan Stubbs. The franchise have also failed to perfectly utilize the Impact Player rule and their batting order looks thinner than most others.
These seem like perfect conditions for the speedster to exploit once again and continue his impressive run in IPL 2024.