GT vs LSG: Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and the tale of two brothers!

Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya

In the first ever IPL ‘battle of brothers', Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans (GT) are in a far better position than his brother Krunal's Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Although their away record (100 per cent) is better than their home run, IPL-16 leaders GT are riding high after their impressive nine-wicket win with 37 balls to spare over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Friday while third-placed LSG haven't had a consistent run.

LSG have posted this edition's highest total (257-5) against Punjab Kings. Then, they failed to get past Royal Challengers Bangalore's 126-9. To add to their woes, they had to share points with Chennai Super Kings in a rain-marred match. GT have also lost a low-scoring match when they were restricted to 125 by the struggling Delhi Capitals (DC) while chasing a victory target of 131. But they regrouped well to thrash RR.

Runs may flow at the Narendra Modi Stadium wicket for today's afternoon game, but LSG will miss their skipper KL Rahul, who is ruled out of the rest of the IPL with a thigh injury. LSG have replaced Rahul with his Karnataka teammate Karun Nair, who had gone unsold at the auction.

The three defeats for GT have come at their home ground in Ahmedabad and LSG would hope to extend that run of defeats for the table-toppers and make their own position stronger in the race to qualify for the Playoffs.

Also Read: IPL 2023: Rashid, Noor star in Gujarat Titans' dominating 9-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals

They need to beef up their batting, especially at the top. Quinton de Kock has been warming the bench, but with Rahul not in the ranks, the South African batter should be the right choice to replace Marcus Stoinis, who has had an extremely poor tournament so far. They have been using Amit Mishra as an Impact Player and that's unlikely to change as the veteran leggie has been impressive for them.

GT will be forced to make one change. Their left-arm seamer Josh Little has left to join the Irish team for their three-match ODI series against Bangladesh. He will miss the remaining four league matches, but will be back for the Playoffs.

It's likely that the home team will recall Alzari Joseph to share the new ball with in-form Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma.

GT did have a blip in their batting against DC with Hardik's unusually low strike-rate of 111.32 in the losing cause while chasing 131 for victory. The GT skipper got his swag back in the last match against RR, scoring at a strike-rate of 260. GT have strong batting to change gears and their bowling is well cared for. The two Afghan spin masters are making their attack a potent force with the seamers in great form.