Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants Prediction - IPL 2022 Match 66: Who Will Win?

Kolkata Knight Riders Team Preview

The Kolkata Knight Riders are currently sitting in sixth place in the table with 12 points from the 13 games that they have played, and if they are to have any chance of playing in the Play-Offs, they need to win this match, and hope that a positive Net Run Rate will see them through. Even if they do win, there is a very high chance that they will just miss out and, after the start they made, they will be bitterly disappointed if this is the case.

In their last game, they took on the SRH and went on to win by 54 runs. The KKR won the toss and opted to bat first, which meant that they needed to put a score of at least 170 on the board. They managed to score 177 from their 20 overs, thanks mostly to a quick-fire 49 off 28 balls from Andre Russell. Sam Billings, Anjinkya Rahane, and Nitish Rana also chipped in with 34, 28, and 26 runs respectively.

Russell, and not for the first time in this competition, was the best batsman for the KKR, and if you are considering doing a spot of online cricket betting and want to bet on a market such as the Top Batsman, then who would we recommend you opt for out of the KKR batting line-up?

Well, you will not be surprised to see us go for Russell. In the 13 games that he has played in this 15th edition of the 2022 IPL, he has scored 351 runs at an average of 41.25. He is their most valuable player by far, since he is also handy with the ball, so if you are considering a Top Batsman wager for the KKR, you would be wise to pick Russell.

With 177 runs on the board to defend, the KKR would have been confident of managing to defend their score, but they probably did not think that it would be as simple as it was. Apart from some resistance from Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram, who scored 43 and 32 runs, there was little to write home about for the SRH. They only managed 123 runs from their 20 overs and lost the match by 54 runs.

Russel was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 3 wickets and conceding only 22 runs from his four overs. Tim Southee also bowled very well, picking up a couple of wickets for 23 runs from his 4 overs, while the three other bowlers that bowled all picked up a wicket and were not overly expensive. All in all, it was a very solid bowling performance from the KKR.

If you want to do some IPL betting on the Top Bowler for the KKR, then who would we back? Well, just like we did with the Top Batsman, we would have to back Russel to be the best bowler too. In 13 matches, he has picked up 17 wickets at an average of 13.71, and just causes batsmen all sorts of issues with his bowling.

What playing XI do we expect for this match against the Lucknow Super Giants? Well, the whole team put in a very solid performance in the last match, so we do not see anyone being dropped for this one. Thus, we expect to see the same playing XI take on the LSG, unless, of course, there is an injury or illness before the game.

Lucknow Super Giants Team Preview

The Lucknow Super Giants are third in the table with 16 points from their 13 matches, and they know that a win will guarantee them a spot in the Play-Offs. Even if they were to lose, it is likely that they will still manage to sneak into the Play-Offs thanks to their Net Run Rate.

Their last match of the tournament was against the Rajasthan Royals, and the RR won the toss and decided that they would like to field first. They managed to put 178 runs on the board, which was a pretty decent total on the pitch that they were playing on. Jos Buttler fell for just 2 runs, but the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Devdutt Padikkal stepped up to the plate and scored 41, 32, and 39 runs.

This pick of the bowlers for the LSG was Ravi Bishnoi, who picked up 2 wickets for 31 runs from his 4 over. Avesh Khan, Jason Holder, and Ayush Badoni all picked up one wicket and were not that expensive either. What was quite unique about the LSG bowling was that eight players bowled at least one over.

If you are going to use IPL betting sites to bet on the Top Bowler for the LSG, then who would we be tempted to put our hard-earned money on? Well, we would think about putting a wager on A. Khan. In his 11 matches, he has collected 17 wickets at an average of 18.35, and is the team's leading wicket-taker.

A score of 178 was good on that wicket, but the LSG, with their talented batting line-up, would have thought that they could chase it down. However, they got off to a really poor start and found themselves at 29/3 after 5.3 overs - they never recovered from this bad start. The Top Batsman for the LSG was Deepak Hooda, who score 59 off 39 balls, while the likes of Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis score 25 and 27 to keep LSG in the hunt.

If you are going to be making an IPL prediction for the Top Batsman for the IPL, who do we think you should be betting on? Well, you might be tempted to bet on Rahul since he is their top scorer, but he has been a little bit out of sorts later, so we would actually suggest you bet on Hooda. He has scored 406 runs in 13 games at an average of 31.23 and is a good bet to top score against the KKR.

Will they make changes to their playing XI? Well, despite the loss in the last game, there will be no knee-jerk reaction and the players that have taken them so far in this competition already should be the ones that are asked to get them over the finish line and into the Play-offs. We expect to see the same starting XI.

Toss Prediction

At the start of this fascinating cricket tournament, the toss was playing a huge role in determining the team that would win the game and pick up two vital points. The captain that was winning the toss was option to bowl and they would end up winning 70% of the time. This was because there was a lot of due about and there was plenty of debate as to what could be done to alter this because many thought it was making a mockery of the competition.

However, now, things have drastically changed, and the dew is no longer that much of an issue it would seem. At this current stage of the IPL, the team who wins the coin toss is winning around half of the matches, especially if they decide to bat first, meaning things are much more equal now.

So, with this firmly in our minds, our toss prediction for this match of the Indian Premier League is that the winning captain will opt to bat first and put an above-par score on the board so that their opponents have to bat under scoreboard pressure.

Pitch Conditions

This match will be played at the DY Patil Stadium, where the average score batting first during the 2022 IPL has been 170. The average winning score at the DY Patil Stadium is 185.00, and the team that bats first wins around 50% of the time. Therefore, the team that bats first will aim for a score of around 1.80. Yes, we know that the average score batting first at this venue is 185, but the pitch conditions are changing, and the scores are decreasing.