LSG enters the game fresh off a remarkable away win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite the fact that the pre-match odds were strongly stacked against them.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will attempt to start their IPL 2025 home campaign with a win against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
LSG enters the game fresh off a spectacular away win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite the fact that the pre-match odds were stacked severely against them.
Punjab Kings, too, has the wind in their sails, having won their season opener against Gujarat Titans in a high-scoring thriller in Ahmedabad last week.
The Kings’ pre-match preparations for Tuesday will most likely revolve around LSG’s batting talisman, Nicholas Pooran, who leads the season’s Orange Cap race.
The West Indian batsman has been on fire in IPL 2025, scoring 145 runs in two games at a remarkable strike rate of 258.92, including 13 sixes and 12 fours.
Pooran’s brilliance at No.3 has been bolstered by opener Mitchell Marsh’s solid hand. The pair has scored two fifties each to compensate for the rest of the LSG batting lineup, including skipper Rishabh Pant, who has only 15 runs in two innings with his new squad.Pooran and Marsh will face a Kings bowling attack that nearly bungled its 244-run defence against the Titans on Tuesday. It only managed to win by 11 runs courtesy to Vyshak Vijay Kumar’s spell of laser-sharp death bowling.However, the away team could utilize Glenn Maxwell’s off-spin to neutralize Pooran, who has scored only 16 runs in 16 deliveries against the Australian bowler in T20s.
Captain Shreyas Iyer will lead the Kings’ batting attack, having had a stunning team debut against the Titans with a free-striking 42-ball 97.
“He has world-class batting abilities. With his performance at the Champions Trophy, he is now regarded as one of the top short-format players in the world,” remarked PBKS fast bowling coach James Hopes.Shreyas will fancy his chances against a young, but confident, LSG bowling attack. In the previous game, the Super Giants bowlers, led by the crafty Shardul Thakur, punched above their weight to limit the Sunrisers’ legendary batting attack.
Both sides will be concerned about the Lucknow surface’s overall sluggishness. Since 2023, no IPL venue has had a lower batting run rate than the Ekana (8.17).
Spin has also shown to be a stronger defensive choice at the Ekana. Spinners have averaged only 7.07 runs per over in the 14 IPL games played here, while pacers average 8.17.
