TSKS vs LAKR Match Preview
The Texas Super Kings will be led by Faf du Plessis, who had a long-standing association with the Chennai Super Kings and also captained the Joburg Super Kings during the SA20 earlier this year. Du Plessis is coming in from an extremely fruitful stint in this year’s IPL and will hope to carry on with his form.
He will have talented batsmen international batsmen like Devon Conway and David Miller at his disposal. While Ambati Rayudu’s last-minute withdrawal does leave a bit of a dent in the middle order, all-rounders including Dwayne Bravo, Daniel Sams, and Mitchell Santner can readily fill in.
Gerald Coetzee, who was the leading wicket-taker for the Joburg Super Kings during the SA20 will lead the pace attack here along with Sams, Bravo, and Calvin Savage. The spin is a bit of a weakness as Santner is the only quality spinner. Local talents in the squad include Rusty Theron and Saiteja Mukkamalla.
The LS Knight Riders will be led by Sunil Narine, who has been a faithful soldier of the Knight Riders. He will also lead the spin attack, which features the likes of Adam Zampa and Bhaskar Yadram. The batting will be one of the biggest strengths for the Knight Riders this season.
In addition to international T20 specialists like Jason Roy, Martin Guptill, and Rilee Rossouw, the squad has plenty of all-rounders at its disposal, including Andre Russell, Corne Dry, and Shadley van Schalkwyk. Lockie Ferguson, Spencer Johnson, and Ali Khan will be seen bowling with the new ball.
The Knight Riders have also invested in young talent, picking up players like Unmukt Chand, Ali Sheikh, and Jaskaran Malhotra. The latter is the one of only four batsmen in international cricket who have scored 6 maximums in an over.
Weather Report
The weather is expected to be warm and dry with temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius.
Pitch Report
The Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas used to be a baseball park and has only recently been developed as a cricket Stadium. Therefore, not much is known about the pitch but like most T20 pitches around the world, we expect it to be good to bat on. The boudnaries are on the shorter side and a lot od sixes could be hit.
Notable stats
Rilee Rossouw’s explosive batting
Rilee Rossouw is one of the most devastating batsmen in T20s. He has scored 7933 runs in the format at an average of 30.74 and a strike rate of 144.84.
Team News
There are no updates regarding injuries from either side.
TSKS vs LAKR Probable 11
TSKS Playing 11
- Devon Conway (Wk)
- Faf Du Plessis (C)
- David Miller
- Mitchell Santner
- Dwayne Bravo
- Gerald Coetzee
- Saiteja Mukkamalla
- Cameron Stevenson
- Rusty Theron
- Calvin Savage
- Cody Chetty
LAKR Playing 11
- Sunil Narine (C)
- Jaskaran Malhotra (Wk)
- Jason Roy
- Rilee Rossouw
- Martin Guptill
- Andre Russell
- Unmukt Chand
- Gajanand Singh
- Ali Khan
- Ali Sheikh
- Spencer Johnson
Dream11 Prediction
This is the first match of the inaugural season of MLC, making it a difficult match to call as the forms of both teams are yet to be seen. However, if the past performances of the players are taken into account, we feel that the Texas Super Kings have a slight edge here. That said, the Knight Riders will give them a good amount of resistance.
Top Picks
David Miller: David Miller has scored 9627 runs in his T20 career and has an average of 35.92. His knocks include 44 half-centuries and 4 centuries.
Dwayne Bravo: Bravo is one of the best all-rounders in T20 cricket. He has scored a total of 6896 runs and also picked up 615 wickets.
Andre Russell: Andre Russell has scored 7549 runs at a strike rate of 167.42. He has also picked up 397 wickets.
TSKS vs LAKR Dream11 Team 1
Keeper: D Conway, J Malhotra
Batters: F du Plessis (C), J Roy, R Rossouw, D Miller, M Guptill
All-rounders: A Russell, M Santner, D Bravo (VC)
Bowlers: R Theron
