Saturday's (April 1) second game will see the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) square off against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
The Super Giants were knocked out of the playoffs last year, losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 14 runs in the Eliminator. However, they played some good cricket in their maiden IPL season and showed promise.
The KL Rahul-led side made some key purchases to bolster their squad at the mini-auction in December last year. Nicholas Pooran has been added to strengthen their middle order. He and Marcus Stoinis will be key to LSG's success in IPL 2023.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, have a balanced squad at their disposal. Despite skipper Rishabh Pant's absence, they make up one of the best teams in the competition. Led by senior Australian batter David Warner, they have plenty of match-winners and will hope to start the tournament on a winning note.
The wicket at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow is likely to assist the bowlers, with teams having struggled to chase down targets at the venue. Hence, teams will look to bat first and post a challenging target.
On that note, let's take a look at three players who could score the most runs in the LSG vs DC tie.
#1 KL Rahul
LSG skipper KL Rahul has been one of the most consistent performers in the last five IPL seasons. He has scored 600-plus runs in four editions and fell short by seven runs in IPL 2019.
The right-handed batter is expected to have another gun season and will look to set the tone from the first match itself.
Rahul likes to take his time and bat throughout the game, which gives him a good chance of scoring maximum runs in today's encounter.
#2 Mitchell Marsh
Australia's hard-hitting all-rounder Mitchell Marsh ran riot with the bat in the recently concluded ODI series against India.
He smashed 194 runs in three innings at an average of 97, including two fifties.
Marsh will draw a lot of confidence from those three knocks as he begins his IPL 2023 journey later today.
The right-handed batter is well aware of these conditions and if he gets going, the LSG bowlers will have a difficult outing on Saturday.
#3 Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw has been in the news for quite some time now. Despite scoring plenty of runs on the domestic circuit, he has struggled to break into the Indian team.
He was named in the T20I squad for the New Zealand series earlier this year but didn't get to play a game.
The young Mumbai-born batter will be eyeing IPL 2023 to make a case for himself in front of the national selectors.
Prithvi boasts an aggressive game and if he gets going, the opener can pretty well finish as the highest run-scorer in this fixture.
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