3:27pm: Nand Kishore and Anil Chaudhary are the umpires, they walk out as LSG players have a pep talk in the huddle.
Sachin: “Finally QDK is back. He’s one of my favorite players”
Mahesh: “”On a different note, we have not seen any super over in IPL for more than 2 years now. The previous IPL game with a super over happened on 25th April 2021. Would we get to see one this year?” We could but our scorers are unlikely to be thrilled if it happens.
ShahSafeer: “LSG and GT have extremely talented cricketers who represented MI in the past. It shows how strong bunch of players MI had enjoyed pre mega auction!”
GT Impact Subs: KS Bharat, Dasun Shanaka, Alzarri Joseph, Shivam Mavi, Jayant Yadav
LSG Impact subs: Ayush Badoni, Daniel Sams, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh
The Playing XIs are out, Swapnil Singh – the left-arm spinner – will be on his debut and QDK returns for LSG.
Hardik says he’d have batted. “I got what I wanted”. Big, emotional day for the family, our father would have been proud. This is something that’s happening for the first time. Short of words, but the family is proud. One Pandya will win. I like the boys to own this place but it’s about expressing ourselves and not worrying about the results. Wanting to win should be more than fear of losing. Josh Little misses out as he goes out to play for Ireland. Joseph comes in
Krunal says it’s a dream come true. Once we go into the field, the game face will be on. He says the wicket will play mostly the same and they have a good batting side and fancy their chances to chase down the total, that’s the reason to bowl first. Says they have played good cricket overall, are well-placed, confident. Quinton comes in for Naveen
3pm: The bros, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, are out for the toss. Krunal wins the toss and LSG bowl first
Mahesh: “”On a different note, we have not seen any super over in IPL for more than 2 years now. The previous IPL game with a super over happened on 25th April 2021. Would we get to see one this year?””
Ozair: “@Aleemudin, you are ON! This match is going nowhere from Gujrat.”
Durgesh: “Is this the first time 2 brothers are leading their teams against each other in the IPL?” Yes, Sampath Bandarupalli says they are only the second set of brothers to be opposing captains in T20s. Hussey brothers faced off twice in the 2015-16 BBL – Mike Hussey for Sydney Thunder and David Hussey for Melbourne Stars.
Pitch and Conditions: Darren Ganga says one of the straight boundaries are longer, between 71 and 75 metres from long-off to long-on. The other is smaller, in the 55-to-61-metres range. The pockets are 63 and 68 metres far. It’s pitch No. 7, no extremities here except the heat. Very little grass but it’ll dry out due to the heat. Spinners and seamers have been among the wickets. The average score is 179 but that could go down as the pitch could get slower. Shubman’s done well here and scored on both sides, mixed boundaries with strike rotation and will be key.
2:50pm: Pitch report coming up soon. Tom Moody, in the video preview, said LSG would be happy to play away, given their home pitch has been tough to bat on. Check it out.
Aleemuddin offers more away support : “Lsg will win this match”
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Romario Shepherd: Yesterday, it was hot too and we trained at the same time, trying to do it like it was game day. Hopefully, guys are prepared. Krunal has been playing well, with him as skipper, we hope he takes his game up the notch and lead the team in the right direction. (On Noor and Rashid) They’ve had a great comp so far, but our batters know we have a good wicket and hopefully give them as few wickets as possible. I’ve been training hard on bowling and batting and am ready whenever I’m called upon.
David Miller: It’s been a good campaign, you’re going to have one or two mess-ups in a comp like this but I think the way our batters have complemented each other makes things easy. I’d probably say we’ve had unlucky results in our home games, and we should have never lost those. It is what it is but it’s a long comp, we need to learn from them. (On being asked if he does anything different on hot days like today) Just drink a lot of water, it’s pretty hot. But it’s out last game coming after a short turnaround having played on Friday. So the focus has been to look after the body more than having net sessions. Credit to Krunal and Hardik for their dedication, what a great honour to take each other on as captains.
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Mustafa Moudi: “Fun Fact: LSG has not beaten GT yet in the 3 previous encounter. With Krunal leading this time against his younger Bro Hardik, lets hope the Elder one gets the victory so that the unbeaten records finally ends and also LSG can land in the Top 2 !!”
2:30pm: Changes have defined the last two IPL seasons, brought about by two new teams – which are taking on each other today, doubled down by new rules and tactics. And today, it’s time to open another file in the syblinguistics folder as Hardik and Krunal Pandya will captain the home and away teams respectively, and look to break out of the mid-table jam. Krunal’s first game as captain in the absence of KL Rahul, who’s ruled out of the season due to a thigh injury, was washed out. But Ayush Badoni coming back to form augurs well. And for Titans, they’ve not had a great time at home. Can they change that after they thumped Rajasthan Royals in their last game? We’ll find out today/
