Identically placed with a solitary victory in three games, Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians will have their task cut out when the two sides lock horns at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, hoping to get their campaign back on track.
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have not really clicked so far this season, with just two points from their three matches. Similarly, LSG, placed sixth behind MI, have not really hit their strides following their demoralising one-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals in their IPL opener at Visakhapatnam.
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India’s Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma’s lack of power-hitting form has added to the woes of MI, already struggling with the uncertainty around pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s comeback. For LSG, skipper Rishabh Pant’s dismal returns with the bat, hasn’t helped the team’s cause, and their latest issue with the Ekana Stadium’s curator offering a pitch that didn’t suit their requirements against Punjab Kings, only adds to their frustration.
However, heading into a fresh contest on Friday, both sides will be expected to put behind those issues, and turn their focus on resurrecting their respective campaigns.
Having lost their opening two matches of IPL 2025, the tourists led by Hardik Pandya will look to continue from where they left in their previous outing against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders, in which they eventually managed to open their account.
MI’s victory at the Wankhede was engineered by young left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar, who announced his arrival into the big stage with impressive figures of 4/24 in three overs. While it would be premature to to pass a judgement about his pedigree, the 23-year-old Punjab pacer’s performance has provided the side a ray of hope in the absence of Bumrah.
Making his IPL debut for MI after playing only four T20 outings on the domestic circuit, he dismissed established names like Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell to become the first Indian to take four wickets on IPL debut.
While MI would be hoping that Kumar isn’t a one-match wonder, the visitors would also expect South African keeper-batter Ryan Rickelton to do the heavy-lifting with Rohit yet to hit top form. Rohit and ‘Mr 360 degrees’ Suryakumar Yadav will have big roles to play in a side that doesn’t really bat deep but has an array of slow and fast bowlers who can deliver.
On the other hand, LSG would desperately be hoping for some form from their skipper Pant, who has had scores of 0, 15 and 2 from the three games so far. Nicholas Pooran has been leading their batting with 189 runs from three innings, including two half-centuries. Mitchell Marsh has also handsomely contributed to the side’s batting might, with two fifty-plus scores. The rest of the batting would be expected to rise to the occasion if the duo fails.
More than the batting, LSG’s woes are in their bowling department. With only a solitary overseas pace option in Shamar Joseph, the team has to bank primarily on their last-minute inclusion Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan, and the spin department led by Ravi Bishnoi.
Akash Deep’s arrival after recovering from an injury could add more firepower in their bowling attack, and the right-armor could straightaway feature in Friday’s match, with a hope to turn things around for the struggling side.
Squads:
Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Himmat Singh, Shamar Joseph, Aryan Juyal, Arshin Kulkarni, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manimaran Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Yadav.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naman Dhir, Vignesh Puthur, Satyanarayana Raju, Ryan Rickelton, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Reece Topley, Suryakumar Yadav.
