The two new franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) - the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) – will be making their debut in the T20 league on Monday. While Gujarat will be led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya, his good friend KL Rahul has been appointed leader of the Lucknow franchise.
With most of their key overseas players missing, Lucknow will have to depend heavily on local talent in their first match. All-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder, two of their key overseas recruits, will be unavailable for the clash against GT. It remains to be seen how they handle the tricky situation.
As for Gujarat, their skipper Hardik will be keen to prove a point, having been dropped from the Indian side over form and fitness issues. The IPL will be crucial for him to push for a spot in the T20 World Cup in Australia later in the year. On Sunday, the Gujarat Titans also appointed Rashid Khan as their vice-captain.
Today's IPL toss result
The Gujarat Titans have won the toss and have opted to bowl first. Explaining the decision, GT skipper Hardik Pandya said:
“First game we want to see how exactly the wickets are playing and keeping the dew factor as well. We wanted to see, assess and go through from there.”
Gujarat have picked four overseas players in Matthew Wade, David Miller, Rashid Khan and Lockie Ferguson.
With a lack of options, Lucknow are going in with three foreign players - Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis and Dushmantha Chameera.
GT vs LSG - Today's Match Playing 11s
GT playing XI: Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade (w), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami
LSG playing XI: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (w), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
Today IPL match player list
GT squad: Shubman Gill, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia, Dominic Drakes, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Alzarri Joseph, Pradeep Sangwan, David Miller, Matthew Wade (wk), Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharsan
LSG squad: KL Rahul (c) (wk), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, K Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Andrew Tye, Dushmantha Chameera, Ankit Rajpoot, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Kyle Mayers, K Gowtham, Evin Lewis
Check out the full IPL teams owner here.
GT vs LSG - Today IPL Match umpires
On-field umpires: Pashchim Pathak, Virender Sharma
TV Umpire: Rod Tucker
Match Referee: Daniel Manohar
Looking for fast live cricket scores? Download CricRocket and get fast score updates, top-notch commentary in-depth match stats & much more! 🚀☄️