Puno, May 10: Gujarat Titans won the toss and chose to bat first against Lucknow Super Giants in a premier clash at IPL 2022 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium here on Tuesday.
Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya said that for a change they want to score and try to defend it.
Gujarat have lost their last two matches, but Pandya put this down to the law of averages. “We won five games where we should have lost, so the odds caught up. We told the guys the tournament is far from over and we have a lot of big games,” he said.
Gujarat have made three changes to their playing XI, all tactical changes, Pandya said. Lockie Ferguson, Sai Sudharshan and Pradeep Sangwan walk out with Matthew Wade, newcomer Sai Kishore and Yash Dayal in his place.
Lucknow skipper KL Rahul said he wanted to go bowling because he wasn’t sure how the course would play later in the evening.
“Pitching works well for us. I didn’t know the team batting first was okay. But batting first can be tricky, it probably gives our players the best chance to bowl on this field,” Rahul said.
LSG made a change in their XI game, UP spinner Karan Sharma coming in for Ravi Bishnoi.
Playing XI: Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammad Shami.
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock (week), KL Rahul (c), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohsin Khan, Karan Sharma, Avesh Khan.