KKR eye quick recovery

KKR players celebrate their win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Despite the league stage of the IPL entering the business end, there are not many teams that can claim to be in the Playoffs, nor any side out of contention mathematically. In such a scenario, it is imperative for teams to strive and win most of the remaining games to have a chance at grabbing a berth in the Playoffs.

Thus, on Sunday night at the Ekana Stadium here, it's going to be a crucial clash between two sides that have defeated Mumbai Indians in their previous games. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had beaten MI here on Tuesday, while Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are coming straight from Mumbai after thumping their rivals on Friday night.

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Shreyas Iyer

KKR's morale will be pretty high after a convincing victory, but the thing going against them is that they may not be fresh enough for the Lucknow game, within 48 hours of their MI clash. After the win over MI, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer accepted that it is going to be a challenge to recover in time for the LSG game, especially with all the travel giving players not enough time to rest and recoup.

Thus, they didn't have a practice session or a pre-match media interaction and preferred to rest in their hotel rooms in Lucknow.

Shreyas also said that the MI win took a lot of pressure off his team, for, had they lost that game, it would have been back to the drawing board for intensive planning. "I am glad with where we are [knocking at the door of Playoffs] at the moment. Had we lost today [Friday], a lot of thinking would have gone behind [doors] before our next game. In that situation, we would have had to win two of our remaining four games," he said.

Though LSG also won their previous game against MI, their promising fast bowler Mayank Yadav broke down for the second time this season. He walked off after claiming a wicket off the first ball of the final over against MI. Mayank was bowling at full hog on his return, till he suffered a Grade 1 abdominal tear, putting him in doubt for the remainder of the league.

The good thing is that Marcus Stoinis, who has excelled with the bat in the last few games, is back at his best as a pace bowler. That has made the LSG attack quite potent, with the likes of Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur and Naveen-ul-Haq also bowling well. Nonetheless, it will be a tough task for them to keep the powerful KKR batting line-up - boasting of Sunil Narine, Phil Salt, Shreyas and Venkatesh Iyers, and power-hitters Rinku Singh and Andre Russell - in check.