Today (April 26), the teams of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are going to face each other in the 38th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. This match is to be held at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow from 7:30 pm onwards. LSG has lost 4 consecutive matches. His eyes will be on registering victory at any cost. On the other hand, KKR has been able to win only 1 out of 7 matches. He also got this victory in the last match. Captain Ajinkya Rahane would like the team not to make any mistakes from here on.

Pathirana’s return will give strength to KKR

In today’s match, KKR will get a big boost from the availability of Sri Lankan fast bowler Mathisha Pathirana. Pathirana will play his first match of this season. He can be played in place of Rovman Powell or Tim Seifert. Powell has looked in excellent form. In such a situation, KKR can drop Seifert for Pathirana. In Seifert’s absence, Sunil Narayan can open with Ajinkya Rahane.

Talking about LSG, its bowlers have done a good job. His batsmen have flopped. Captains Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram have not been able to do much with the bat, while Nicholas Pooran has failed in every match. LSG can drop one of Markram and Pooran and give a chance to Mathew Bretzke. Britzke was in the impact substitute list in the last match but LSG did not field him. Captain Pant would like to correct this mistake today.

LSG vs KKR Pitch Report

So far in IPL 2026, the batsmen have faced a lot of difficulties at the Ekana Stadium. No team has been able to cross the 200 mark in 6 innings. In the current season, the average score of the first innings at this ground was 155. The fast bowlers have got a lot of help in the initial overs, due to which the top order batsmen have been seen struggling. The contest between LSG and KKR will be played on a black soil pitch, which is likely to be a double affair. In such a situation, once again a low-scoring match can be seen. Not only pacers but spinners can also prove effective on black soil pitch.

Probable playing XI of both the teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders – Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wicketkeeper), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Karthik Tyagi, Mathisha Pathirana, Varun Chakraborty, Vaibhav Arora.

Lucknow Super Giants – Mitchell Marsh, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran/Matthew Bretzke, Himmat Singh, Mukul Chaudhary, Digvesh Rathi, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan.