Lucknow Super Giants bowling coach Morne Morkel is elated to have Gautam Gambhir as a mentor in the dressing room as he provides them with a piece of extensive knowledge about the conditions of Eden Gardens as he captained the franchise for seven long years and won two championships for the Kolkata team.
Lucknow Super Giants will take on the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in a must-win game on Saturday in iconic Eden Garden Stadium. Gautam Gambhir has a well-documented legacy as skipper of KKR, having guided them to two IPL trophies over the years and was appointed as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor in 2022.
Speaking to the media ahead of their important clash against KKR, Morne Morkel believes that LSG can take advantage of Gambhir’s knowledge about the conditions as they can use his experience as an advantage to team success and reckons that their team needs to win the games as it is as simple as that.
“Gambhir is always an advantage for us. He played for KKR, knows Eden Gardens, and was the two-time champion captain. So, I think it’s an advantage, and hopefully, we could make it.”
“Look we didn’t talk about this thing much. We need to do is to play and win. So, qualifying is one thing. But playing in the final is the goal. Kolkata, Eden Gardens is always a high-scoring ground. This ground has a history. So hopefully we could make it,” Morne Morkel said.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team will don a special jersey of their Indian Super League sister franchise Mohun Bagan jersey against the Kolkata Knight Riders. It will be the first time in IPL, that a team will wear the jersey of a football team as support for their sister franchise.
Krunal Pandya Is A Strong Leader, Leading From The Front – Morne Morkel
Morne Morkel lauded their stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya for his outstanding captaincy in the absence of KL Rahul stating he can take responsibility with both bat and ball and asserted that Eden Gardens is usually a high scoring one and reckons that they will try to counterattack the KKR Spinners.
The final league game will be crucial for both sides as LSG needs a win to seal their spot in the Playoffs stage, whereas the two-time champions will look to win the game and hope few results go in their favour at the business end of the tournament.
“He is exceptional. He is a strong leader, leading from the front. Captain went bowling during tough situations. He is having a crucial role,”
“The surface of Eden is pretty good. Their bowling lineup is good. We also have counterattacks. Eden Gardens is having a history of high-scoring games,” Morne Morkel added.
Lucknow Super Giants are currently placed at the top 3 in the points table with 15 points from 13 games and a One more win will easily take them to the playoff as with 17 points, no other team other than Chennai Super Kings (CSK) can reach to 17 points mark.