IPL 2022: GT vs LSG Preview, Playing XI, Live Streaming Details & Updates

It will be a game of debuts as the newest IPL competitors, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, go face to face.  Plenty will be on the line for the two as they aim to outline an early impression in an established league. Despite both the teams being new, right from the backroom staff to the players would be aware of the standards of the IPL, having been associated with the league in some capacity or the other in the yesteryears.

The KL Rahul-led Super Giants – not entirely a new name in the league as the Sanjiv Goenka-owned Pune franchise was a part of the IPL in 2016-17 – were lauded heavily for their accomplished and well-carried-out auction strategy.

They made a steal deal in Quinton de Kock, who will partner skipper Rahul at the top, while they have a well-rounded and flexible set of all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis (pre-auction signing), Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham and Jason Holder. In Manish Pandey and Evin Lewis, the Super Giants have proven commodities of the shorter format, also ensuring a correct balance of aggression and composure in the set-up.

They also built an enviable bowling cortex, slotting in express pacer Mark Wood and the lanky Dushmantha Chameera, apart from Avesh Khan. However, Wood’s injury-enforced exit has made their unit lose a tad bit of its shine, with his replacement Andrew Tye not having the ability to generate similar pace on tracks assistive for that form of bowling.

The Super Giants, though, would expect the seasoned Australian pacer to counterbalance that with his bag of variations. Further, with the highly canny Ravi Bishnoi and Shahbaz Nadeem as their spinners alongside all-rounders, there are not many teams that come close to matching the Super Giants’ giant bowling muscle.

The Titans, on the other hand, did not manage to impress the pundits with their buys at the auction as much, as despite having some hotshots, they left some holes unplugged. Led by Hardik Pandya, with Rashid Khan serving as deputy, the Titans’ strength lies in their bowling attack, which boasts the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Dominic Drakes, Mohammed Shami and Varun Aaron, alongside spinners Rashid, R Sai Kishore and Noor Ahmed.

Their batting does not possess a similar heft, especially after Jason Roy decided to pull out of the tournament at the last moment, with the Titans calling in Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz as replacement. Either one in Wriddhiman Saha or Matthew Wade is expected to open alongside Shubman Gill, while they can use Saha as a floater too.

The Titans would have a much better overall balance should Pandya be able to contribute with the ball, with their other all-rounder options being Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar and Gurkeerat Singh Mann. The franchise think tank will also hope that David Miller would be able to fire towards the back-end of the innings. Despite the missing links, if they can find the correct combination, the Titans could well prove to be a force to reckon with.

Pitch and conditions

The strip at the Wankhede in the season opener had evident assistance for pace, with that variety claiming six of the total nine wickets that fell that night. However, CSK’s 131/5 was considerably lower than the average of 167 at the venue in 84 T20s. KKR’s six-wicket win was the 11th successful chase in the last 14 night games at the venue, which is sufficient to incline a captain to opt for chasing upon winning the toss.

Playing combinations for GT vs LSG

Gujarat Titans 

The responsibility of providing the finishes will lie upon the Miller-Pandya-Tewatia trio, as Tewatia would want to repay the faith shown by the franchise in him. Alzarri Joesph, who is a part of the England Test series, is unavailable.

Predicted XI: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Matthew Wade, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Hardik Pandya (C), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, R Sai Kishore

Lucknow Super Giants

Much like Joseph for the Titans, both Holder and Kyle Mayers are unavailable due to the England Test series. All-rounder Stoinis is set to miss the initial few matches as he will join the franchise upon the conclusion of Australia’s Pakistan tour.

Predicted XI: KL Rahul (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan

GT vs LSG Head-to-Head

This is the maiden meeting of the two teams.

GT vs LSG Broadcast Detilas

Match Timings – 07:30 PM IST

TV – Star Sports Network

Live Streaming – Disney+Hotstar