Lucknow Super Giants are better placed than Kolkata Knight Riders both in terms of points and net run rate. But by no means are Krunal Pandya and his men taking the Knight Riders lightly ahead of Saturday’s clash at the Eden.

The Super Giants also have in mind the kind of threat Rinku Singh, the Knight Riders’ most consistent batsman this IPL season, poses.

“The Q (qualified for playoffs) beside our name is yet to be there. So we’ve got to play the way Lucknow are known to... We play to our potential, win this game and then see how it goes from thereon,” Krunal said on the sidelines of the unveiling of the franchise’s green-and-maroon jersey on Thursday.

“Rinku’s impact, too, has been a massive boost for KKR as he has had a great season. So yeah, Rinku will be a big factor. But when you play at this level, every player will be as dangerous. So we are not taking KKR lightly,” Krunal, captaining the team in KL Rahul’s absence, added.

Keeping in mind the legacy of Mohun Bagan — which the city-based RPSG Group owns along with the Lucknow team — the Super Giants will be wearing the green-and-maroon colours during Saturday’s clash. In fact, they will most likely be wearing this jersey when playing at the Eden in the future editions of the IPL as well.

That aside, the Super Giants are aware that they need to be on their toes against the Knight Riders’ spin trio. However, middle-order batter Nicholas Pooran, one of their finishers alongside Marcus Stoinis, is confident about the task.

“I’ve played against them for a couple of years now. Hopefully, they won’t trouble us and the result goes in our favour,” keeper-batter Pooran, who was also present at the event, stated. But such is the game that we have to take our opponents head-on and whoever handles the pressure best will surely be successful.”

Krunal’s captaincy

With regular skipper Rahul out injured, Krunal has been doing a pretty decent job, marshalling his troops well even during pressure situations. The Super Giants’ narrow five-run win over Mumbai Indians on Tuesday was an example of his cool-headedness.

“As for the captaincy, I don’t want to imitate anyone. I want to learn good things from everyone, but at the same time, I want to be myself and do it my way. Chances of my and the team doing well then increase,” Krunal said.

Talking about discussing captaincy with his brother and Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya, Krunal added: “Obviously, Hardik and I discuss cricket a lot. Not just cricket, we discuss about life and how we want to go about it.

“Both Hardik and I play cricket in a certain way. Whether we were leaders in the team or not, we have always taken that responsibility and seen this game from a leader’s point of view. When you play the game that way, then obviously you feel captaincy to be slightly easier.”