In a format which is unforgiving to the bowlers, a young tearaway has become the scourge of the batters in IPL this season.
The 21-year-old Delhi born Mayank Yadav, who demolished Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru with his thunderbolts in the last two matches, has evoked apprehension and fear in the mind of opposition batters.
There is no doubt that Mayank will once again be cynosure of all eyes when Lucknow Super Giants takes on Gujarat Titans, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
It is hard to ignore the Mayank factor on the relaid faster surface at the Ekana cricket stadium which is a world apart from the low bounce, slow track where Super Giants had mixed luck last season.
Riding on Mayank’s X-factor, the Super Giants will be looking to build a formidable record at home this season. With the LSG’s fast bowling coach Morne Morkel hinting at retaining the winning combination, the Super Giants after a few days rest will look to continue the good run against Titans whose morale took a beating after suffering a stunning defeat to Punjab Kings earlier this week.
Not worried
The Titans was waylaid by two inspired IPL rookies Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma in its last match. The Titans will look to regroup and explore ways to neutralise, if not limit the damage from Mayank. Titans batter David Miller said his team wasn’t too worried about facing Mayank and was prepared to attack him and his fellow bowlers. The return to form of captain Shubhman Gill and explosive finish by Rahul Tewatia were some positive takeaways for Titans from the last match. But the Titans will have to put in a more determined and polished performance to beat the Super Giants at home.
Teams (from):
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Robin Minz, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Mandhar, B Sai Sudarshan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi, Shshant Mishra, Spencer Johnson, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Umesh Yadav, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma and Manav Suthar.
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Mohd Arshad Khan.
Match starts at 7.30 PM.
