IPL 2022 LSG vs RCB Preview - Both teams with a chance of top place at the halfway mark

Key match stats LSG vs RCB

Pitch Stats – DY Patil Stadium

Average first innings score: 172
Average first innings winning score: 193
Average powerplay score: 45
All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 40% / 60%

Team form LSG vs RCB
LSG – WLWWW
RCB – WLWWW
Recent meetings: n/a

LSG vs RCB Preview

As we near the halfway point of the league, the IPL table is really starting to take shape with this match seeing 3rd vs 4th with a chance for both sides to take top spot with a convincing win.

Win or lose both teams will feel they are in pretty good shape for a playoff place but the victor here will certainly be able to start thinking about one of the coveted top 2 places and an easier route to the final. That's likely to require 10 wins so being halfway there after 7 games would be ideal.

As the figures above show, both teams have identical form coming into this game with 4 wins from their previous 5 games.

LSG were always in control of their match against MI thanks to a KL Rahul special at the top of the innings and LSG will hope that this will be the start of a little more consistency from their very talented top order. To date their powerplay has been one of the weaker in the tournament, averaging just 42.5 runs for the loss of 1.8 wickets.

As anticipated in the the preview of LSG's last game, they opted to rejig the balance of their side and bring in Manish Pandey at number 3. It will be interesting to see whether they revert back to having the likes of Krishnappa Gowtham (he bowled 4 overs for 1 for 23 in his last appearance at this ground) for this match given the slower pitch at the DY Patil Stadium compared to the Brabourne.

Stadium	Overs in PP	Total Wickets	Economy
DY Patil	22	5	6.1
Wankhede	11	1	7.5
Brabourne	11	3	8.1
Maharashtra	8	2	9.1

Slow bowling stats in the powerplay for IPL 2022 by venue

For RCB, the major concern remains the form of their top order with just 2 half centuries from their top 3 this season. Of course Virat Kohli running himself out twice in his last 4 innings isn't helping the cause. We know he likes to hustle the fielding team but just anecdotally speaking (I have no stats to back this up) it does feel like sides are hitting the stumps more often this season than in previous ones so the risk factor of trying to steal a single has increased as Virat is finding out!

This will be RCB's 4th match at the DY Patil Stadium. They've lost their only 2 games of IPL 2022 here and weren't exactly convincing in their win over KKR at the same venue.

LSG vs RCB head to head

RCB bowling vs LSG batting

Given the strength of RCB's opening bowlers, it's surprising that they've struggled to take regular wickets so far this season. In fact, only Delhi Capital (5) have taken fewer wickets in the powerplay than RCB (6) and of course they've played one less game than Bangalore.

Maxwell vs KL Rahul T20 head to head

Given the stats above about spin in the powerplay at the DY Patil then in this match the temptation will surely be to throw the new ball to Glen Maxwell who also has a surprisingly good head to head vs KL Rahul.

I say surprising because across his entire career KL Rahul has only been dismissed 9 times by off-spin with an average of 58.7 and S/R 153. Of course with the left-handed de Kock at the other end that does also present a good match-up for Maxwell and therefore RCB will probably hope that the Aussie can continue to buck the trend against the LSG captain.

In fact, KL Rahul has a very good record against the current RCB seam attack as well having never been dismissed in T20 cricket by any of them across his entire career!

KL Rahul combined career stats against all pace bowlers in the current RCB squad

However RCB do have 2 bowlers who have been particularly effective at the DY Patil Stadium so far this season. Harshal Patel of course missed the thrashing by CSK on this ground which has perhaps protected his figures a bit but his change ups will no doubt continue to be effective, while Faf won't mind Hasaranga's higher economy rate here providing he can continue to get key wickets.

Harshal Patel and Hasaranga stats at the DY Patil Stadium IPL 2022

Their partnership through the middle overs could be crucial for RCB particularly against this long LSG batting line-up.

LSG bowling vs RCB batting

For RCB, their struggling top order will come up against the in form Avesh Khan who has already claimed 5 wickets in the powerplay this season, a couple of which came at the DY Patil Stadium against Sunrisers as he went onto take 4 for 24 in that victory.

Avesh Khan T20 stats vs the current RCB squad

While he's not played a huge amount of cricket against this RCB line-up the signs so far are positive for a bowler who does seem to have that happy knack of picking up wickets.

Thereafter, RCB will need to deal with the squeeze of what could well be a trio of LSG spinners. In their last outing at the DY Patil Stadium, Gowtham and Bishnoi proved too much for the Delhi Capitals batsmen and you'd imagine that in combination with Krunal Pandya, that will be the plan of attack once again.

LSG spinners combined stats at the DY Patil Stadium IPL 2022

RCB will be happy to see Glen Maxwell find form in their previous match and his role in disrupting those spinners during the middle overs will be crucial while in general, RCB's middle and lower order are playing some excellent cricket so far this season.

Dinesh Karthik is rolling back the years and as we reach the halfway point of the season would have a good claim of being part of the team of the year so far. He's been well supported by the quietly effective Shahbaz Ahmed who is a young cricketer that seems to improve with ever passing game and offers his side a lot of options with both bat and ball.

Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed combined stats at the death in IPL 2022

All stats used in this blog are from my own database. Images are my own with the exception of player profiles and background images which are used under a creative commons license or otherwise royalty free