One of the biggest talking points ahead of this game is Rishabh Pant’s move to LSG. Having spent his entire IPL career with Delhi Capitals and also leading them in the past, Pant made a high-profile switch to LSG before the mega auction, where he was snapped up for a record Rs 27 crore. While his staggering price tag keeps him in the spotlight, this season presents a crucial opportunity for Pant to prove himself in white-ball cricket, especially after missing out on playing time in the recent Champions Trophy.
On the other hand, KL Rahul, who captained LSG for two seasons since their IPL debut, has made his way to Delhi Capitals. However, this time, he will play as a batting mainstay rather than a leader, with Axar Patel taking over the captaincy role.
Much like Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals had multiple leadership options. Apart from Axar Patel, they also had the experienced Faf du Plessis and KL Rahul in their ranks. However, the franchise placed their trust in Patel, whose all-round abilities and rising stature in Indian cricket made him a fitting choice for the role.
On paper, Delhi Capitals boast a formidable squad with a strong mix of overseas and Indian talent. In contrast, LSG have a limited pool of six overseas players to work with.
Squads Axar Patel (c), KL Rahul (wk), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Karun Nair, Faf du Plessis, Donovan Ferreira, Abhishek Porel (wk), Tristan Stubbs (wk), Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav.
Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c&wk), David Miller, Aiden Markram, Aryan Juyal, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Ayush Badoni, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi.
