The two new teams of IPL 2022 – Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans – will play their first match of the tournament against each other at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.
Both the teams will be looking to get off to a winning start in the ongoing season.
Gujarat Titans don’t have a lot of firepower in their batting and it would be interesting to note how they will go about their business. The Titans have a comparatively better bowling line-up as they have bowlers like Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami.
The Titans will be led by Hardik Pandya, who will have a point to prove as he is making a comeback after a long hiatus. Pandya will look to lead from the front and deliver the goods for the team as an all-rounder as well as a captain.
On the other hand, Lucknow Super Giants were able to build a strong squad in the mega auction. LSG were able to rope in players like Manish Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda and Marcus Stoinis and thus they have a good middle-order. Furthermore, they were able to get bowlers like Ravi Bishnoi, Andrew Tye and Avesh Khan.
LSG will be led by KL Rahul and he will look to start fresh after a disappointing leadership stint with Punjab Kings as he could not even lead his former team to the playoff stages in the last two seasons. Ergo, Rahul will look to turn the tables while leading the new franchise.
Match Prediction: Lucknow Super Giants have a more balanced team and they might start as favorites against Gujarat Titans.
Gujarat Titans Squad: Shubman Gill, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia, Dominic Drakes, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Alzarri Joseph, Pradeep Sangwan, David Miller, Matthew Wade, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharshan.
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: KL Rahul (c), Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Andrew Tye, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan.
