- Match prediction: Lucknow Super Giants to win
- Toss prediction: Lucknow Super Giants to win the toss and choose to field first
Match 3 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) sees Lucknow Super Giants, who finished third in the group stage and fourth overall in their debut season last year, host Delhi Capitals, the fifth placed team from 2022. Read on for our IPL predictions ahead of this match.
- Saturday April 1st, 19:30 local time
- BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Contents
Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals match preview
Lucknow Super Giants
This will be only the second season in the IPL for Lucknow Super Giants and once again they will be led by the impressive pair of coach Andy Flower and captain KL Rahul. They won 60% of their games in 2022 but finished with a disappointing three defeats from their final four games. South African opener, Quinton de Kock, who hit over 500 runs including 140* against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2022 IPL, will not be in the team for this game as his country are playing a short series agains the Netherlands. However, after he missed the entirety of last year’s IPL, England pace bowler Mark Wood is fit, raring to go, and will lead the bowling attack for the Super Giants this year.
Possible 11: KL Rahul (c) (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Jaydev Unadkat, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan
Delhi Capitals
After three successive seasons of strong performances from 2019 – 2021, which saw Delhi Capitals finish in the top three each campaign and end as runners-up in 2020, it was a disappointing 2022 campaign with the side ending one position outside the play-offs. And it has been a unstable few months ahead of the 2023 IPL, after the captain, keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, was involved in a serious car accident in late-December and is out of this competition. Australian opener David Warner will captain the side which looks to have a real powerful batting line-up. Doubts remain about the pace bowling but their spinners and batters could well be the key to victory in this match.
Possible 11: David Warner (c), Phil Salt (wk), Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldeep Yadav
Pitch and expected weather conditions
The pitch at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium is one which turns for the spinners and can sometimes be hard for the stroke-makers to get going on. The average T20 total on this surface is 150.8 and we expect to see balls gripping for slower balls and cutters.
It will get progressively more humid on Saturday evening in Lucknow with the temperature in the mid-low 20s throughout.
Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals Dream11 prediction
We recommend getting as many of the following players into your Dream11 side:
- Wicket keeper(s): KL Rahul, Phil Salt
- Batter(s): Deepak Hooda, David Warner
- All-rounder(s): Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Sarfaraz Khan
- Bowler(s): Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav
- Recommended captain: KL Rahul
- Recommended vice-captain: Mitchell Marsh
Both KL Rahul and Phil Salt bat at the top of the order, although with differing styles. Salt is a bludgeoner who will look to knock the leather off the ball from his first delivery whereas Rahul is less of a risk-taker. Rahul has an exceptional IPL record with over 590 runs from each of his last five seasons at an average of 48.01.
Deepak Hooda hit four half-centuries in the 2022 IPL whereas only Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan have scored more IPL runs than David Warner. Mitchell Marsh and Axar Patel both come into this year’s IPL off the back of strong international performances. Marcus Stoinis has one of the best strike-rates in T20 cricket over the last two years. Although spinners will relish bowling on this surface, very few batters will be pleased at the prospect of Mark Wood sending down his accurate 95mph+ deliveries at them.
We recommend appointing KL Rahul as your Dream XI captain and doubling your points. Mitchell Marsh is very consistent in white ball cricket and would make a good vice-captain in this game.
Match prediction: LSG to win
There were only four points and two places between the sides in the 2022 IPL and we expect this to be a close contest on Saturday evening. Delhi Capitals have recovered well from the shock injury to Rishabh Pant and we expect their spin-twins, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, to enjoy playing on this pitch. However, Lucknow Super Giants have a very settled team and we are backing them to come out on top in Match 3.
Toss prediction: Lucknow Super Giants to win the toss and choose to field
With the humidity levels forecast to go over 80% in the second half of the game, neither team will want to be fielding with possible moisture coming off the outfield and onto the ball. As a result, we predict that both teams will want to field first.
Man of the match prediction: KL Rahul
With his fine IPL record, we are not looking anywhere but at the Lucknow Super Giants skipper when it comes to the Man of the Match Award. You have to go back to 2018 to find the last IPL campaign where Rahul scored less than six half-centuries. His conservative batting approach could be very well suited on this pitch which is likely to favour bowlers over batters.
Betting odds
Both teams are at 10/11 (1.91) to win this match. This reflects how well matched the Super Giants and the Capitals are expected to be with match-winners for both sides with bat and ball.
