IPL 2023: Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda return for Lucknow Super Giants

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) won the toss and elected to bowl first in a crucial Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) match against Gujarat Titans at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 7. Stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya made four changes to LSG's playing eleven with star South African batter Quinton de Kock making his first appearance in IPL 2023. Struggling batter Deepak Hooda also returned to the playing XI after getting dropped against Chennai Super Kings in the previous game.

The South African wicketkeeper batter was excellent in Lucknow Super Giants' campaign during IPL 2022. After KL Rahul, he was the team's leading run-getter with 508 runs from 15 innings at a strike rate of almost 150. But he missed the opening two games this season due to his involvement with South Africa's national team. Kyle Mayers opened an innings with Rahul and made an instant impact to keep de Kock on the bench after the latter's arrival.

But with Rahul out injured, LSG management has turned to their big-hitter, who will also don the wicketkeeping gloves ahead of Nicholas Pooran. In



another big change, Deepak Hooda is also named in Lucknow's playing eleven after missing out on the last game. Hooda is enduring a poor season with just 53 runs from nine innings at a strike rate of 89.93. 

Amit Mishra is another big name missing the squad with spin all-rounder Swapnil Singh playing his first IPL game in six years. Yash Thakur also returns to join Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan in LSG's pace attack in the fourth change. 

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Swapnil Singh, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan

LSG Impact subs: Ayush Badoni, Amit Mishra, Daniel Sams, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad.

Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami

GT Impact subs: Alzarri Joseph, Dasun Shanaka, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Jayant Yadav.