IPL 2022 KKR vs LSG Preview - Can McCullum end on a high?

Key match stats KKR vs LSG

Pitch Stats – DY Patil Stadium

Average first innings score: 169
Average first innings winning score: 182
Average powerplay score: 43
Win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 47% / 53%

Team form KKR vs LSG

KKR – WWLWL
LSG – LLWWW
Recent meetings: LSG won by 75 runs

KKR vs LSG Preview

Today's match sees 2 sides whose fate is pretty much sealed in one way or another.

KKR would need a series of very fortunate events to occur for them to qualify for the playoffs but at least they do have the advantage of playing their final game of the round robin first and a sizeable win would catapult them up to 4th place and put pressure on the likes of DC and RCB to respond later in the week.

LSG meanwhile are all but safe in regards qualification. It'd take a big loss here followed by a big win for RCB for them to close the gap in regards net run-rate and threaten a top 4 finish.

Still Lucknow have not been in the best of form recently resulting in back to back defeats and they'll be keen not only to arrest that slide but to also give themselves a shot at finishing 2nd.

In fact, a win similar to that which they achieved against KKR just 11 days ago would be just fine and put them in pole position to reach the Qualifier ahead of Rajasthan who still need to play CSK.

In that game LSG's bowlers delivered them victory by running through the KKR top order and leaving them 25 for 4 inside 7 overs but for Kolkata such starts have not been a rarity this season. They've had 2 instances in IPL 2022 where they've failed to reach the 30 run mark in the powerplay (including that game against LSG) and overall they have both the worst powerplay run-rate and have lost the most wickets during those initial 6 overs.

Run-rate in the powerplay for all teams in IPL 2022

Unfortunately in short format cricket there simply isn't the time to rebuild innings and as no doubt we'll see in my full analysis of the season for each franchise, it's the teams that are best with both bat and ball in the powerplay who tend to win games and titles.

Baring a miracle, this will be Brendon McCullum's final game in charge of KKR and whoever they bring in next season to replace him as head coach will have some serious work to do in finding a suitable opening partnership that can at the very least deliver the kind of platform for Kolkata's big hitters in the middle order to deliver from.

As far as big hitters are concerned the DY Patil has not proved the easiest ground to score on this season. Both 6s and 4s have been harder to come by at this venue than most and so grinding out a total is likely to be the order of the day on a pitch where new batsmen generally struggle to score quickly from the off.

Hitting boundaries have proved more difficult at the DY Patil than any other stadium in IPL 2022

In that regard we know that LSG have a couple of top order batsmen who can bat through the innings but of late the likes of KL Rahul and Quniton de Kock have failed to do so and just as I pointed out 11 days ago the last time these 2 teams met, if you get both openers early then there's a real chance of limiting this Lucknow side.

KKR vs LSG head to head

LSG bowling vs KKR batting

KKR's batsmen have struggled all season but perhaps no more so than at the DY Patil stadium where their stats look particularly poor!

To date they've made totals of 128, 148 and and 165 at this venue with only the later against Mumbai Indians enough to secure victory and even that involved a batting collapse that saw them lose 10 wickets for 105 runs.

KKR top-order batsmen T20 records at the DY Patil Stadium

When you consider that KKR's top order could barely get the ball off the square against LSG's 3 pronged opening seam attack of Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan and Chameera just last week then you fear that they could be in for a another difficult afternoon here today.

Avesh Khan vs Rana T20 head to head

Nitish Rana has been making contributions of late for KKR but his weakness against the short ball is likely to be tested to the full by this LSG attack.

KKR bowling vs LSG batting

If batting is KKR's weakness then bowling is definitely still a strength and the Knight Riders certainly have the attack capable of ending Lucknow's hopes of a top 2 finish.

In fact, Tim Southee needs just 2 more wickets in this game to become the all-time leading wicket taker at the DY Patil Stadium in IPL history while of course Pat Cummins spell of 22 for 3 helped KKR blow away the MI middle order the last time they played here.

Southee T20 career stats at the DY Patil

Deepka Hooda is becoming an increasingly vital wicket for sides playing against LSG to claim. He is particularly adept at scoring off wrist-spin in the middle overs as his career stats show (strike rate of 141.9 vs right-arm wrist spin) but if he does have a weakness then it's against either finger spin (right-arm finger spin he averages just 15.2 with a S/R of 115.1) and genuine pace.

Russell and Narine combined T20 stats vs Hooda

They combination then of the 2 West Indies in Sunil Narine and Andre Russell could be key in this game to limiting his impact with both men having dismissed him twice before in previous encounters.

All stats used in this blog are from my own database which is freely accessible at T20 head to head. Images are my own with the exception of player profiles and background images which are used under a creative commons license or otherwise royalty free