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Arun - April 1, 2025
Punjab Kings’ first match showed they have the potential to finish in the top four. They look strong under a good captain with a disciplined squad. However, their bowling and fielding remain concerns, their batting is solid, especially their middle order.
Meanwhile, Lucknow Super Giants shocked everyone by defeating Hyderabad at their home ground, where SRH was expected to score big. LSG restricted them to 190/9 and chased it down in just 16.1 overs with five wickets in hand.
Both teams seem to be in good form. However, unlike LSG and other teams, Punjab has played only one match so far this season.
The Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings have faced each other four times in the Indian Premier League, with LSG leading the head-to-head record 3-1.
At the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, the teams have met twice. In their first encounter at this venue during IPL 2023, PBKS secured a narrow victory by 2 wickets.
However, LSG avenged this loss in IPL 2024, defeating PBKS by 21 runs at the same ground. Overall, LSG holds the upper hand in this rivalry, having won three out of the four matches played.
Captain- Rishabh Pant
Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi
Impact subs – Shahbaz, Manimaran Siddharth, Prince Yadav, Himmat Singh, Akash Maharaj Singh
Captain- Shreyas Iyer
Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vijaykumar Vyshak
Impact subs – Nehal Wadhera, Praveen Dubey, Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod
Nicholas Pooran (LSG): The West Indies power-hitter Pooran is in great form this season. He currently holds the Orange Cap after scoring 70 and 75 in his first two matches.
Shardul Thakur (LSG): Thakur has been LSG’s best bowler so far. He has taken 6 wickets in the first two games, with a best performance of 4/34. He also has 14 wickets in nine matches against Punjab.
Shreyas Iyer (PBKS): With Iyer in the team, Punjab looks stronger in the IPL. In the first match, he showed his big-hitting ability. He has scored 117 runs in four matches against LSG over the last three years, averaging around 30.
The Punjab Kings have a strong batting lineup but need to improve their fielding. They dropped several catches in the last game, though it didn’t affect the result. In their recent matches against LSG, they started well with early wickets. With a solid batting order this time, Punjab is expected to perform well on Tuesday.
Punjab’s losses against LSG in the past were mainly due to batting inconsistency. Despite good starts, they often collapsed towards the end. However, their new captain is a reliable batsman in great form. He is also capable of keeping wickets, providing support to his teammates—just like we saw Shashank Singh score a stunning 44 off just 16 deliveries.
Both LSG and PBKS have strong and reliable batting lineups. Last season, this pitch had an average first-innings score of 183 runs, so there’s a good chance a player will score more than 69.5 runs. Since Pooran scored over 70 in both of LSG’s games and Shreyas Iyer is coming off an unbeaten 97, we expect this to happen in this match.
In the last two matches between these teams, LSG scored more than 87.5 runs in the first 10 overs. Since Punjab Kings have an inconsistent bowling attack and LSG has strong batters like Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, they are likely to score over 87.5 runs in the first 10 overs again.
