The Royal Challengers Bangalore begin their journey on the road. Their away record historically tends to be pretty good, and they will have fond memories of their last encounter against Lucknow in the same season, as Lucknow chased down a mammoth score in the final over which was very eventful.
The surface at the Ekana Stadium is relatively on the slower side. The team winning the toss may decide to bat first. Spinners will be very effective here, and anything above 170 will be a competitive total on the board.
Clear skies in the evening. The temperature is forecast to drop from 31 degrees to 29 degrees during the game.
Legendary batter Virat Kohli is in terrific form at the moment. He has scored 333 runs in eight matches, and with that, he is second on the IPL 2023 Orange Cap list. Even in the last match, the stand-in skipper managed to score a half-century, and in Lucknow, where the ball will relatively keep low, Virat can once again play a brilliant innings.
The ace pacer is arguably one of the best bowlers in the ongoing season. In eight matches so far, Siraj has picked up 14 wickets, and with that, he is at the top of the IPL Purple Cap race. He has been ruthless with the new ball, and thus, it will be interesting to see how he does against LSG batters, who are on song at the moment.