Kolkata Knight Riders v Lucknow Super Giants: IPL 2022 match preview

The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season

What's the match?

Kolkata Knight Riders take on Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League.

When is it taking place?

The match will be played Wednesday, May 18 with play starting at 7.30pm local time (3pm GMT).

Where is the match being played?

The game will be held at DY Patil Sports Academy Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Who's got the form?

Despite a comprehensive defeats to leaders Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals in their last two games, Lucknow Super Giants have qualified for the playoffs, sitting in third position with 16 points and a healthy net run rate.

LSG’s strength lies in their bowling – Dushmantha Chameera has had an excellent IPL campaign, and together with Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, and Ravi Bishnoi, forms a formidable bowling attack that matches up nicely with the KKR’s power hitters.

Kolkata Knight Riders haven't had as good a season as they would have hoped, with their auction recruitment coming under fire. They are level on points with seventh-placed Punjab Kings and face a real uphill struggle as they attempt to pip Royal Challengers Bangalore or Delhi Capitals to a top-four spot.

A win here would take them to 14 points, but that is unlikely to be sufficient to keep KKR interested beyond the round-robin phase, with RCB and DC able to reach 16 points and possessing superior net run rates. They'll need results to go their way.

^{KL Rahul}

What's the key match-up?

KL Rahul has scored two hundreds and been out for two ducks this season, so the battle with Andre Russell will be key to this one. Lucknow’s hitting at the death has stuttered this season and Sunil Narine will be confident he can keep the runs down in the LSG innings.

Andre Russell is yet again having an outstanding tournament, scoring 49 not out from 28 balls and taking 3 for 22 last time out against Sunrisers. He is Jos Buttler’s only rival for the MVP crown at this point in the competition, almost single-handedly driving KKR to the brink of the play-offs.

Head-to-head record 

Matches played: 1

Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 0

Lucknow Super Giants wins: 1

What's the weather forecast?

A warm day is expected in Mumbai, with highs of 33 degrees Celsius, falling to 29 degrees by first ball of the match.

What are the squads?

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mark Wood (injured/replaced by Andrew Tye), Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan

^{Andre Russell}

What are the possible starting XIs?

Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Harshit Rana

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan

What are the odds?

The bookies make Lucknow Super Giants favourites for this match with 8/11 odds. KKR are 15/13 to win on Wednesday.

What's the prediction?

Lucknow Super Giants are definitely the better team and the table shows as much. However, with LSG already qualified, Kolkata Knight Riders certainly have more to play for in this match and that might just make the difference for them.

Where can I watch the game?

In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.

Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.

Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.

Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.

Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.

The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.