The two newest teams to the IPL will lock horns on Saturday for an intriguing looking clash that will help shape each team’s playoff chances.
The Gujarat Titans were champions of the IPL in their debut season back in 2022 and almost repeated the trick a year later before losing in the final. After missing out on the playoffs altogether last season, the Titans want to get back to where they belong and currently sit on top of the ten team table.
The Lucknow Super Giants haven’t quite been able to get their hands on the IPL trophy but have come close. Having qualified for the playoffs in their debut season in 2022 and once again in 2023, 2024 also marked the first time that they had failed to reach the latter stages of the playoffs and they will want to amend that this time around.
With both teams firmly on course to make the playoff phase of the tournament, a win in this crucial encounter will provide a major boost to the team that wins it, whereas the team that loses will need to go back to the drawing board to ensure their season doesn’t fall off the tracks.
Form Overview
Through their first five games of the season, no other team can boast as an impressive record as the Gujarat Titans.
With four wins and one defeat, the Titans wil head into this blockbuster encounter having won their last four matches against the Mumbai Indians, RCB, the Sunrisers and the Rajasthan Royals. They look like the team to beat and they will want to lay down another marker against this talented Lucknow team.
As they look to pull further away at the top of the table, fans of the Titans will take heart from the fact that so far the Titans have won both their matches on the road and they will believe a third straight road win is more than possible.
For the Super Giants their five matches have yielded three wins and two defeats. The wins have come against the Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers, but defeats against the Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings see them just outside of the top 4 in the standings.
This match provides an opportunity for the Super Giants to go level with their opponents at the top of the table and a win this weekend will potentially set them up for glory later down the line.
This will be their third home game of the season and their form at home is mixed with one win and one loss. If they are to return to the playoffs, taking care of business at home is essential and they will hope to do exactly that in this contest.
Where could the match be won or lost?
On paper the two teams look evenly matched and in the batting department both teams have four of the form players of this season’s IPL.
In the race for the Orange Cap, the Titans currently have Sai Sudharsan and Joss Buttler sitting at second and fourth and both will hope to carry on their positive momentum in this match against the Super Giants.
The two players are at contrasting stages of their careers. Sudharsan is 23 and through this IPL is positioning himself as one of India’s brightest prospects.
Through his five innings so far, he has posted three half centuries and is providing a great platform for the rest of his team to build off.
Buttler is now 36 but despite creeping towards the twilight of his career is showing that he is still one of the best players in the IPL.
Buttler so far has two half centuries through his five innings but has seen his momentum stall slightly in his last two matches.
Able to turn the outcome of a match around with a few swishes of his bat, Buttler will be key if the Titans wish to win a fifth match in succession.
Lucknow fans will hope that the race for the Orange Cap will come down to a race between two of their players. One man who has been in dominant form has been Nicholas Pooran.
Pooran currently leads all batsmen when it comes to run scored and his blistering strike rate of 225 is the best out of all of the contenders for the Orange Cap.
In Lucknow’s victory against the Knight Riders, Pooran showed exactly why he is so dangerous in this format, scoring 87 runs in just 36 balls. Hitting eight 6s in the process, nobody else has come close to hitting as many and Pooran will hope to bring all of his destructive power into this contest.
If Pooran fails to fire then Mitchell Marsh can pick up the slack. He also heads into this match in great form following a superb knock of 81 against the Knight Riders helping himself to five sixes in the process.
Marsh is an unlikely contender to land top run scoring honours but if he can keep up his momentum he could well pull off the surprise.
Which players should we be keeping an eye on?
For the Gujarat Titans we have already talked up the powers of both Sai Sudharsan and Joss Buttler, but with the Super Giants also boasting a raft of talented batters, it is with the ball where both sides will need to make an impression.
The Gujarat Titans have one of the best bowlers in the entire IPL in their ranks in the form of Mohammed Siraj.
Opening the bowling for the Indian white ball side is no easy feat but that is exactly what Siraj has gone on to do countless times.
With ten wickets through his first five matches, Siraj has left his mark on the tournament.
Coupled with the skills of Sai Kishore who has also taken ten wickets, the pair are the most formidable bowling duo in the IPL and should cause the Super Giants plenty of problems.
For the Super Giants the man who has starred with the ball has been Shardul Thakur.
With nine wickets, he has emerged as the Super Giants main threat. He will need to bring in all of the momentum from his previous matches if he is to stop the duo of Buttler and Sudharsan in their tracks.
Where is the match being played?
The match will take place at the Bharat Ratna stadium which is the home of the Super Giants.
Based on black soil, the pitch is notoriously slow and should provide plenty of assistance for the spin bowlers of both sides. Despite the batting prowess of both teams, expect the scoring to be relatively low in comparison to the big totals that these teams have been able to generate through the competition so far.
What is the head to head record between the teams?
With both of these teams only joining the IPL back in 2022, matches between the two have been relatively small.
This will be the sixth time that these two teams would have faced off and through the first five matches it is the Titans who lead 4-1, however the Super Giants did win the last match between the pair.
This will be the fourth time that these two teams have played at the Bharat Ratna stadium. The Titans have tasted success twice whilst the Super Giants were victorious last time out.
This looks it has all of the makings of being a classic.
Who will win the match between the Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans
Due to the fact that they are playing at home, the bookmakers have given a slight advantage to the Super Giants to just sneak past the Gujarat Titans.
Of the two teams it is the Super Giants who need to win this match more. Only trailing the Titans by two points, a loss this weekend will see them trail their rivals by four points which could be a tough margin to claw back.
Nicholas Pooran has been nothing short of sensational and if he can swish the bat like he has done so far in this year’s IPL the Super Giants have a great chance of victory, however the Titans look stronger throughout their lineup and coming into this contest having won their last four matches, they are the picks to get the win.
Tom Gibson
Tom Gibson, 33, possesses a keen interest in cricket combined with expertise in betting. Based in Newcastle, he is well-acquainted with the dynamics of the game and the betting world. With numerous years analyzing cricket matches and odds, Tom offers a unique perspective on the intersection of the sport and betting strategies