Match 54 brings us a crucial encounter between two sides vying for a playoff spot with Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings hosting Rishabh Pant’s Lucknow Super Giants at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on 4th May.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 54: Punjab Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants | 19:30 IST, May 4th
It will be a battle of top order batters and quality seamers in this crucial encounter in the race for the Playoffs. Unlike the hosts, who are currently placed third in the points table with 13 points, Rishabh Pant’s team will be desperately looking for a win with their playoff aspirations getting thinner with each game.
Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings have found form at the right time with the team needing two wins in their last four games to secure playoff qualification for the first time since 2014. The success of their top order batters in particular has been key to their push for the top four. However, there are still question marks on the potency of their middle order batters, while the lack of support for Arshdeep Singh in the pace department is also a cause for concern.
After the top order batters – who are well into the mid 300s – Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh are the next highest run getters at 194 runs and 181 runs, respectively. The Australian trio of Marcus Stoinis (67 runs in 6 inns), Jos Inglis (62 runs in 5 inns) and Glenn Maxwell (48 runs in 6 inns) – who has been ruled out due to a finger injury – has been a real let down for head coach Ricky Ponting as the as the whole project was banking on at least two of them firing.
In the bowling department, Arshdeep Singh (13 wickets) has been the lone wolf for most of the season, however, both Marco Jansen (10 wickets) and Yuzvendra Chahal (13 wickets) have started to chip in of late. Moreover, the depth of the spin bowling department will also be tested now that Maxwell has left – ruling out his invaluable offbreaks on tired pitches as the season enters its final leg. Besides, despite his 13 wickets, Yuzi Chahal also hasn’t looked his best this season while Harpreet Brar has only started playing for the team from Match 34 onwards.
The Lucknow Super Giants, on the other hand, are coming into this game after losing all their early season momentum, having won just one in four and with a negative net-run-rate of 0.325. Moreover, the going only gets tough from hereon as they face teams currently in the top four in three out of their four remaining league games, including Sunday’s fixture against the Punjab Kings.
Similar to the Punjab Kings, the Lucknow Super Giants have also relied heavily on their top order to score the bulk of the runs. The trio of Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran has contributed more than 1100 runs in the first ten games. However, it is the recent blip in form of their highest runscorer Pooran (404 runs) that has started to hurt LSG.
Moreover, skipper Rishabh Pant has looked all at sea in the middle, scoring just 110 runs this season at a strike-rate of 98.2 – which is unacceptable for a player of his caliber. With a makeshift bowling line-up and a middle-order that has blown more cold than hot, it’s still in their hands if they can click as a team in these last four games.
Looking ahead to this game at Dharamshala, it’s going to be a fairly close contest between two power-hitting teams. The wickets in Dharamshala tend to suit both batters and seamers. Thus, there’s every chance we are in for a run-fest this Sunday. Although it’s very tough to choose between these two, we’re backing the Lucknow Super Giants to win this one and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Fantasy XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya (vc), Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram (c), Marco Jansen, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan
Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala
Winner’s Prediction: Lucknow Super Giants
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