Lucknow Super Giants Vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2024: Three Key Battles To Watch Out For

Lucknow Super Giants will lock horns with Rajasthan Royals in match 44 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow in the second fixture of Saturday. (Streaming | Full IPL 2024 Coverage)

LSG are fourth in the IPL 2024 points table with five victories from eight games players as compared to RR, who are sitting pretty at the top with seven wins out of eight.

LSG have been decent at home, with their last victory coming against reigning champions Chennai Super Kings last time out. RR, too, are on a winning run and would look to continue that trend in Lucknow.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Keshav Maharaj, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Kuldeep Sen, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Donovan Ferreira, Abid Mushtaq, Kunal Singh Rathore

Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Devdutt Padikkal, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur, Arshin Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Manimaran Siddharth, Arshad Khan, Prerak Mankad, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Shamar Joseph, Ashton Turner, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mayank Yadav.

Here are the three key player battles to look out for -

Sanju Samson vs Ravi Bishnoi

RR captain Sanju Samson has led his franchise right from the word go, having him played one decent knock after another. Such is Samson's form this IPL 2024, that he has made it to critics and pundits' T20 WC 15-man squad for Team India. However, Samson will face a tough battle on the Ekana track when he comes up against Ravi Bishnoi. RR captain has scored 60 runs from 40 balls across six IPL meetings against Bishnoi but the latter could be eyeing a change in fortune.

Jos Buttler vs Yash Thakur

With 9 wickets in seven games, LSG's Yash Thakur is leading the line as far as pace attack is concerned since Mayank Yadav's injury. Thakur is a great asset when playing on home turf and his duel with RR's batting star Jos Buttler will be one to watch. The Englishman has scored 285 runs at a strike rate of 146.91 but with will need to play at his best as the Ekana track has tricks up its sleeves.

Trent Boult vs KL Rahul

LSG captain KL Rahul has been hot and cold so far in this IPL 2024 campaign and would look to get some consistency back to his batting as he gears up to face RR. RR's Trent Boult is a machine with the ball upfront and in their 10 meetings, Rahul has scored 92 runs with the Kiwi scalping him twice.