Rahul out with injury as LSG look to extend CSK's losing streak

What's an IPL without a little bit of drama, amirite?

When Lucknow Super Giants lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday night, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq picked up big fines. But, more crucially for LSG, KL Rahul injured his hip flexor while fielding and walked off in the second over of the match, and has also been ruled out of the match against Chennai Super Kings*.

LSG will want to quickly put all of that behind them as they enter this match. This is the same team that smashed 257 in Mohali less than a week ago, but on Monday, their batting looked toothless, with most of their batters getting out trying to attack on a slow surface at the Ekana Stadium.

With Rahul out, will Quinton de Kock finally get a chance? If they do want to get de Kock in, then one of their options is to bench Naveen-ul-Haq and bring in Avesh Khan. But that makes it an all-Indian bowling attack. They could also make Ayush Badoni play up the order. Or even Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Manan Vohra or Prerak Mankad. Options aplenty there.

CSK are coming off back-to-back losses, which have taken them from No. 1 on the points table to No. 4, but the Lucknow pitch might work for them. The surfaces have been slow and have aided turn, and though this one is likely to be played on a red-soil strip, CSK have quality in their line-up.

LSG lost to CSK in a high-scoring contest in Chennai the last time these sides met this season.

Super Giants' left-arm quick Jaydev Unadkat has been ruled out of the remainder of IPL because of a left-shoulder injury, which he picked up while training in the nets on Sunday**.

Krunal Pandya, who stood in for Rahul on Monday, is likely to lead the team. Mark Wood is expected to be available for their next two games before flying home for the birth of his daughter, and LSG would be tempted to give him a go if a red-soil pitch is in use.

Super Giants LWLWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Super Kings LLWWW

Lucknow Super Giants
Super Giants will have to make a forced change because of Rahul's injury. De Kock could finally get a game, but it would mean many changes to their make-up. The likelier option is, perhaps, to get an Indian batter to fill in.

Probable XII 1 Kyle Mayers, 2 Manan Vohra/Prerak Mankad, 3 Ayush Badoni, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Krunal Pandya (capt), 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 8 K Gowtham, 9 Avesh Khan/Yash Thakur, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Amit Mishra, 12 Naveen-ul-Haq/Mark Wood.

Chennai Super Kings
Mitchell Santner had been performing well but was dropped once Maheesh Theekshana became available. Theekshana has taken just five wickets in six innings at an economy of 8.4 this season and he hasn't taken a single wicket in nine overs in the powerplay. CSK could be tempted to bring Santner back, given he's also a gun fielder and can contribute with the bat.

Probable XII: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 9 Matheesha Pathirana, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Maheesh Theekshana/Mitchell Santner, 12 Akash Singh

A red-soil pitch, instead of the black-soil surface for the RCB game, is expected to be used at the Ekana Stadium, which will mean more bounce on offer. Despite expected cloud cover in the afternoon, there is no forecast of rain. The average first-innings score at the venue this season has been 147.