Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians Hyderabad - Match Preview

🏏 16 May 2023 - 18:00 GMT +0

The IPL is now getting to a pointy end, and with the playoff placements yet to be set, every remaining match will still have an impact on the final standings. No match within the final week of the tournament could have more of an impact than match #63, which will see the Lucknow Super Giants take on the Mumbai Indians. The winning side is almost guaranteed to qualify for the playoffs, while the losing side will need results to go their way as well, whilst winning their 14th and final match of the group stage. Lucknow should be confident heading into this match, having won both of the head-to-head fixtures last season.

This match will be the final time this season Lucknow plays at their home ground, and while most teams might be sad about that fact, Lucknow should be happy! The hosts have won just two of the six matches they have played at home with low scores being the biggest issue, such as an average first innings total of just 143 with four of the six scores at the ground being 135 or under. Such low-scoring matches have made a mess of the Lucknow batters’ statistics, with the team scoring an average of just 169 runs per match, and recording the seventh-lowest collective batting average, which sits at 25 across the tournament. Lucknow’s bowlers have made the most of conditions, though, by conceding just 156 runs per match - by far the lowest of any side.

A lack of consistency has been the biggest issue for Lucknow, with them having won consecutive matches on just one occasion. Most recently, for the Super Giants, there was a big win over Hyderabad chasing down a 183-run target with four balls to spare. Nicholas Pooran was the clear standout, smashing his way to 44 from just 13 balls to win the match, while the inexperienced Prerak Mankad was consistent with 64 from 45 balls. Quinton de Kock has finally found a place back in the Lucknow side and it has paid off perfectly with scores of 70 and 29. He could be the difference here, although his average of 24 and strike rate of 121.1 against Mumbai could suggest he may struggle.

After a couple of years struggling down the bottom of the table, Mumbai is clearly back at their best albeit with a very different bowling lineup. Mumbai’s record of seven wins from 12 matches has clearly been set up by their batters, who have got Mumbai to an average score of 185, the highest in the tournament, while striking the second most sixes (8.92) per innings. Ishan Kishan has been the key at the top of the order, hitting 275 of his 366 runs during the powerplay at an average of 68.75 while striking at almost 9rpo in that period. The bowlers have struggled, though, averaging 187 runs conceded each inning, the highest in the tournament, despite the fact Piyush Chawla is third on the wicket-taking charts with 19 from 12 appearances.

Mumbai is coming into the match in great form by having disposed of both Bangalore and Gujarat to move solidly into the top four and get back on track for another playoff appearance. Their most recent match was all about Suryakumar Yadav, who is having one of the all-time great IPL seasons after a slow start. His 103 not out from just 49 balls moved his run total to 479 across 12 matches at an incredible strike rate of 190, the highest for any batter with at least 100 runs. Mumbai got home relatively comfortably in that match thanks to three early wickets for Akash Madhwal, the only issue being 79 by Gujarat’s Rashid Khan in which 72 of those runs were scored in boundaries.

⚡ Key battle: The Indian captain Rohit Sharma has again struggled in the IPL averaging just 18.33 across the season with one half-century. He should be worried about coming up against Lucknow and Avesh Khan in particular, who has removed him on two occasions in the past for just 11 runs from 13 balls.

📋 Stat attack: When losing the toss in away games, Mumbai has gone on to win 63% of all matches.

• Lucknow’s average first innings score in 2023 has been 171, despite the average first innings total at the Ekana Cricket Stadium being just 143.
• Since 2022, Tim David has struck a boundary every 3.94 balls and a six every 6.89 balls for Mumbai.
• Kyle Mayers has struck 75% of his runs for Lucknow in boundaries, the highest of any Lucknow batter with more than 20 runs.
• Quinton de Kock strikes at just 74.32 across his first five balls, despite an overall strike rate of 148.97 for Lucknow.
• Yudhvir Singh has the most powerplay wickets for Lucknow with three, but has gone at 8.42rpo in that period.
• Marcus Stoinis faced 26 balls from Jason Behrendorff, striking 22 runs and being dismissed once.
• Ravi Bishnoi to Suryakumar Yadav in T20s: 23 runs, 20 balls, three dismissals.