"The way LSG have built their team, they will play on slow wickets"- Manoj Tiwary ahead of Lucknow's IPL 2023 opener

Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary feels that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have built a team that might be well suited to playing on slow and turning wickets. The Ekana Stadium in Lucknow has had pitches on the slower side in the recent past and Tiwary feels KL Rahul and co. are well prepared for those tracks.

The Super Giants have a whole host of quality spin options like Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra, who would love to bowl on pitches with a bit of turn. They also have batters like Nicholas Pooran who play spin well.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Manoj Tiwary spoke at length about the importance of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis getting among the runs for the Lucknow Super Giants. He said:

"I feel the way LSG have built their team, they will play on slow wickets. They have players who like playing on those kinds of tracks. I want to see Stoinis score consistently. He has opened in Australia and has also batted in the middle order. But the runs from the top order will also be crucial to give the middle-order that platform."

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Virender Sehwag's concern about LSG's batting

While Tiwary feels that low and turning wickets could be LSG's strength, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag had a slightly different opinion. On the same discussion panel, Sehwag spoke about how Lucknow's star batters would love the ball coming onto the bat with even bounce.

On this, Sehwag stated:

"Lucknow ahave ample bowling options and we have seen most of them for well last year. The pitch in Lucknow, however, will need to have even bounce. If it's slow with uneven bounce, their batters won't be able to play their strokes freely. So the idea would be to prepare a good pitch in Lucknow for the hosts."

Lucknow will host the Delhi Capitals in the third game of the IPL 2023 season at the Ekana Stadium on Saturday.