Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Chennai Super Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants - Match Preview

🏏 4 April 2023 - 18:00 GMT +0

The 2023 edition of the IPL is now in full swing with every team having played at least one match. The seventh game of the tournament will see two of the tournament favourites go to battle when the Delhi Capitals host the Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. In the only previous match between these sides, the eventual IPL 2022 champions Gujarat won by 14 runs, a match that saw Shubman Gill smash 84 from just 46 balls.

The loss of Rishabh Pant will continue to loom over the Delhi squad this season as they look to replicate his magic. Not only is he a great batter, but it was very clear that Delhi would miss his wicketkeeping this season, with Sarfaraz Khan dropping a catch and making plenty of mistakes in Delhi’s opening match. To be fair to Sarfaraz, his wicketkeeping won’t matter at all if the bowlers all continue to get hit out of the park as they did against Lucknow. Chetan Sakariya went for 53 from his four overs, whilst Delhi appeared inflexible and stubborn about their bowling order throughout the innings. Going forward, Delhi could be positively served by using both Mitch Marsh and Rovman Powell with the ball to mix things up.

Khaleel Ahmed was the best of the Delhi bowlers, taking two late wickets as well as keeping things tight from the start. His ability to swing the new ball, especially under lights, will provide Delhi with plenty of powerplay firepower. It was a disappointing batting performance from Delhi in their attempted chase of 194, though, with David Warner top scoring with 56 from 48. Consistent wickets and David Warner batting at a slow pace meant that Delhi was never really in the chase. The Capitals should be happy to finally return to their home venue, but unfortunately, it hasn’t proven a fruitful place in the past, having lost more than 50% of home matches.

Many were surprised last year when Gujarat went all the way in their opening season under Hardik Pandya to lift the trophy. Much of the 2022 success for Gujarat came from a strong start and it looks like they will do so again after having dispatched CSK by five wickets in the tournament's opening fixture. Much of the opening win came down to Rashid Khan removing the key opponents of Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes cheaply and he’ll be looking to do the same against Delhi. Rashid Khan seems to love playing against Delhi, having taken 14 wickets in nine matches against the Capitals at an average of 13.50 runs per wicket and an economy of just 5.25.

Interestingly, Gujarat also has an issue with their wicketkeepers - but theirs is that they have too many! Wriddhiman Saha started in the opener striking 25 from 16, but on the bench sat Matthew Wade, who did the job last year, besides Indian Test keeper KS Bharat. Wade could come in just as a batter after Kane Williamson ended his season and returned home to New Zealand with a serious knee injury. It’s a huge blow for Gujarat, who planned on having Williamson play the anchor role while allowing big hitters like Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya to go hard from ball one. As they did in the opening match, Gujarat should be looking to chase if they win the toss, having won 89% of matches when doing so.

📋 Key battle: Gujarat ought to be worried about Delhi captain David Warner getting off to a good start as he averages 59.50 at a rate of nine runs per over in T20s against Gujarat opening bowlers Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya. Perhaps the answer is to give Alzarri Joseph the opening over, with him having removed Warner once from the seven balls he’s bowled to the Aussie in T20s.

⚡ Stat attack: The average all-time first innings score at Arun Jaitley Stadium is 167.

• Despite winning the tournament, the Gujarat Titans averaged 16 runs less per first innings than Delhi in 2022.
• David Warner has top-scored for Delhi six times now since the beginning of 2022.
• Hardik Pandya has faced Axar Patel 17 times in T20 cricket, having struck a slow 18 runs while being dismissed on one occasion.
• Shubman Gill has amassed 309 runs against Delhi at a strike rate of 130 and an average of 38.60, an improvement on his overall IPL strike rate (126.40) and average (32.72).
• Delhi has accumulated the most powerplay runs in 11 of their last 13 matches.