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          19/05Result
          51st match (N), Indian Premier League at Kanpur, May 19 2016
          Guj Lions won by 6 wkts (39b rem)
          Player of the Match
          Dwayne Smith
          Dwayne SmithGujarat Lions
          19/05Result
          51st match (N), Indian Premier League at Kanpur, May 19 2016
          Guj Lions won by 6 wkts (39b rem)
          Player of the Match
          Dwayne Smith
          Dwayne SmithGujarat Lions

          Lions receive Raina boost against depleted KKR

          play
          Agarkar: Gujarat need Raina to step up (4:43)

          Ajit Agarkar joins Raunak Kapoor to preview the game between Gujarat Lions and KKR at Gujarat's new home venue Kanpur (4:43)

          • The Preview by Srikanth Ravishanker
          May 27, 2016, 03:50 PM ET

          Match facts

          Thursday, May 19, 2016
          Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

          Big picture

          On the eve of their second last league game, against Gujarat Lions, that can seal their playoff spot, Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a major blow with the loss of Andre Russell to an injury he picked up against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Apart from being a vital batsman in the slog overs, Russell is Knight Riders' highest wicket-taker in the season so far, with 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.97. On what is expected to be a batting-friendly Green Park pitch, and against a line-up that contains Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo, Russell's loss would be huge, especially while bowling in the Powerplay overs. Their batting, though, looks settled with an in-form Gautam Gambhir at the top, followed by a consistent middle order.

          Lions, on the other hand, will be boosted by the arrival of their captain Suresh Raina, who returns from paternity leave. After kickstarting their campaign with six wins in their first seven matches, Lions suffered four losses in their next five matches. The most harrowing of those came against Royal Challengers in their last game, in which they slid to a 144-run defeat, the largest margin in IPL history. The defeat had severe effects on their net run rate (currently -0.747), and their best chance of qualifying is by winning both their games. A loss to Knight Riders will still keep them alive, though.

          Another concern for Lions will be their failure to surge in the latter half of the innings. In this IPL, they have the second-fastest run rate in the first ten overs - 8.33 (behind Royal Challengers' 8.36), but in the second half, they have been scoring at 7.66 - the worst among all teams. They are coming off quite a long lay-off - just one match in the last ten days - and will be eager to jump to second place with a win.

          Form guide

          Gujarat Lions LWLLL (last five matches, most recent first)
          Kolkata Knight Riders LWLWW

          In the spotlight

          Piyush Chawla's smart use of the googly, and a very quick quicker one have helped him overshadow the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine this season. Chawla has not let Narine's poor returns affect his team's fortunes, and - along with Russell - has led Knight Riders' bowling charge with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.72.

          With 286 runs at a strike rate of 126.54 in 11 matches, Suresh Raina has had a quiet season so far. He will look to turn things around with two vital games ahead, and help accelerate the scoring in the end overs.

          Team news

          In all probability, Akshdeep Nath will make way for Raina. Barring any last-minute injuries, no other changes are expected.

          Gujarat Lions (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum , 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Shivil Kaushik, 11 Pravin Tambe

          While there is no like-for-like replacement for Russell, fellow West Indian Jason Holder is likely to get his second match of the season as his fast bowling and big hitting on a small ground could be key factors ahead of Chris Lynn and Colin Munro.

          Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Robin Uthappa (wk), 2 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Yusuf Pathan, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Morne Morkel

          Pitch and conditions

          "I believe the batsmen will have the edge over the bowlers, and a score of 180 plus can be scored by the team batting first," curator Shiv Kumar told the Times of India before the first ever IPL match at Green Park. The pitch, that wore a pale green look, was hard and full of runs for Thursday. Temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius have been forecast for the evening, with no rain expected.

          Stats and trivia

          • Raina has hit 142 runs off Chawla in the IPL - the highest by any batsman off a single bowler. He has been dismissed four times off 79 balls by the Chawla

          • Thursday's game will be the first ever T20 match at the Green Park

          Quotes

          "We just need to believe we can win from any situation. We just need to work hard on our game, work hard in our mind and hopefully everything will fall in place."
          Suresh Raina, the captain, urges his players to stay positive for their last two matches

          Match Coverage

          All Match News

          Fabulous chasing record

          7-2

          Win-loss record for Gujarat Lions when chasing in this IPL. They won just once while batting first in 4 matches

          Second player

          4000+

          Runs for Raina in IPL. He becomes the 2nd player to reach there; Kohli got there in the last match. Raina also goes past Kohli's 4002 runs to become leading run-getter.

          Cheap and best

          2

          No. of cheaper 4-fors in IPL, than Dwayne Smith's 4 for 8 in this match - Kumble took 5/5 and Rohit Sharma 4/6, both in 2009. These are Smith's best figures in T20s.

          Struggle against Lions

          2

          No. of times KKR has scored less than 60 runs in the first ten overs of the innings in this IPL - both against Gujarat Lions; 57 at Eden Gardens and 55 in Kanpur today.

          Dwayne Smith's 3-for

          2013

          Last time Dwayne Smith took 3 or more wickets in a T20, before this match. He bowled 33 times between these 2 instances.

          Run-out record

          21

          No. of times Gambhir has been run out in T20s - most by a batsman. He went past Jayawardene's 20 such dismissals. 4th run out for Gambhir in this IPL.

          Uthappa's milestone

          5

          No. of India players with 5000 or more runs in T20s. Uthappa is the 5th to do so with this match. Kohli, Raina, Rohit and Gambhir are the others.

          New T20 venue

          0

          No. of T20s hosted by Green Park stadium in Kanpur, before this. There has never been a Day/Night or Night match of any format here prior to this match.