🏏IPL 2025 - Match 26: LSG vs GT, 12 April 2025 @ 3:30 PM IST🏏

🏏IPL 2025 - Match 26: LSG vs GT at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on 12 April 2025 @ 3:30 PM IST🏏

LSG, GT gear up for a top-heavy battle in Lucknow

The performance of new-ball bowlers could have a big say in which direction this game goes

Twenty five games into IPL 2025, the top four run-scorers are from Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) top order. If that wasn't unexpected enough, Shubman Gill isn't on that list. It has allowed both teams to work around vulnerabilities in their batting.

In a season where teams are looking to maximise their scoring throughout the innings despite the situation, GT follow an old-school T20 template. B Sai Sudharsan, who was the player of the match for his 82 in GT's win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), said, "we try and keep a lot of wickets in hand and go full-on in the last five overs."

Their middle order has remained unburdened as at least one of Gill, Sai Sudharsan or Jos Buttler have scored a fifty in each of their five games so far. Not that that's made them formulaic. In fact, after the last game GT's assistant coach Parthiv Patel said, "there are no specific roles as such. As a team, we have a top three, but we keep shuffling the batting order. We react based on conditions and the situation."

That flexibility was on demonstrated by Washington Sundar being promoted to No. 4 in their win against Sunrisers Hyderabad - he made 49 off 29 balls - but then he was replaced with Shahrukh Khan, whose 20-ball 36 built on a well-set platform against RR.

For LSG, the chance pairing of Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh clicking has bolstered the impact of Nicholas Pooran's onslaughts and nullified Rishabh Pant's lack of runs.

[Tag and Logo credit to Wildestdreams]

When: Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans, April 12th, 03:30 PM IST

Where: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium

What to expect: A hot day and more grappling with conditions? On the eve of the game, the ground staff ran the roller on two of the nine pitches at the venue - one a black soil surface and another a mixed one. This was perhaps done in preparation for the next fixture at the venue (against CSK), that comes with just a day's break on Monday (April 14).

The big question

Rashid has bowled only one over in the powerplay so far this season. Marsh, Markram and Pooran have sub-120 strike rates against him, Pooran has even been dismissed twice in 66 balls. Rashid has only started to rediscover his form after a poor start to this season, but should he be brought on to bowl earlier given the strength of LSG's top order?

For teams not named Delhi Capitals, life at home has not been perfect in IPL 2025 irrespective of where they sit on the points table. For a few, it's been marred with trying to understand what's on offer in the 22-yards in front of them and whether it can be congruent with the skills that they pack. Taming home conditions has just not come easy, but on Saturday, Lucknow Super Giants will take another stab at it.

LSG had a dramatic start to the season as a defeat to PBKS trigger a head-turning comment from Zaheer Khan. A switch up from red soil pitch to a black soil one gave them a win in the second game - but perhaps not with the sort of control they would've envisioned. Wins in Hyderabad and Kolkata have helped them keep pace with the top-four even if they currently sit outside the periphery of playoffs spots.

As the tournament progresses and more teams vie to climb up the rungs, LSG's bowling capabilities could be put to the sword. Their expensively assembled Indian attack has done just about enough in two of their three wins, but were also lacklustre in both the defeats. The batting is doing most of the heavy-lifting at the moment, but there's the inherent risk of a lopsided effort like that getting punished in the long run.

Now that we're on heavy lifting, Gujarat Titans have also had their top three and impact substitute Sherfane Rutherford shoulder the bulk of the run-making in their wins, until the last game. GT could've been victims of their own success, but had Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia mop up after a rare top-order failure to post a winning total. Coincidentally, GT too pack an all-India pace attack in the absence of Kagiso Rabada, which has combined well in their four victories.

While teams with richer histories and deeper narrative threads have hogged the limelight, GT have gone about their work to calmly rise up to the top of the table, in an understated way like they did in 2022. As for LSG, their start to this season mirrors their forgettable campaign of 2024, where they began in a topsy-turvy manner and maintained that inconsistency all the way through. Ashish Nehra might want to put GT on the same path from three seasons ago where they picked 16 of the first 20 available points to distance themselves from the chasing pack. LSG however, will want to go in a completely different direction to the last season, starting with another win on Saturday afternoon.

Team Watch:

Lucknow Super Giants

Injury/Availability: Mayank Yadav continues to be unavailable.

Tactics & Matchups: Avesh Khan could be crucial up front against two of GT's top three. Avesh has dismissed Shubman Gill twice in 51 deliveries in T20s since 2022, giving away only 64 runs. He's been a touch expensive against Jos Buttler (43 off 23 balls) in the same period, but has also dismissed him thrice. GT's No.4 Shahrukh Khan too has not got the better of Avesh, falling twice in just seven deliveries faced.

Probable XII: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi

Gujarat Titans:

Injury/Availability: Kagiso Rabada has not returned since leaving for South Africa last week due to personal reasons.

Tactics & Matchups: Rashid Khan has had an ordinary start to the season, and yet he could be GT's man to deal with the six-hitting menace of Nicholas Pooran. LSG's swashbuckler has smashed 24 sixes this season - nine more than the next best (Mitchell Marsh). Though Rashid's stock leg spinner turns into Pooran's six-hitting arc, the Afghan has fared well against him in T20s since 2022 - dismissing him twice while conceding just 77 off 66 deliveries.

Probable XII: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kulwant Khejroliya/Washington Sundar

In the spotlight - Digvesh Rathi and Prasidh Krishna

Five of Digvesh Rathi's seven T20s have come in IPL 2025. His celebrations might have landed him in hot waters but his impact cannot be written off. His economy rate of 7.75 is easily the best of all of LSG's bowlers so far this season. In LSG's last game, against Kolkata Knight Riders where 472 runs runs were scored, his economy was 8.25. While Ravi Bishnoi remains the primary legspinner in the side, Rathi's position is only rising.

Prasidh Krishna's pace and height have offered Titans a unique advantage in the middle overs. He has been able to hit the middle of the pitch and get extra bounce to challenge batters on the back foot. He is coming off five wickets in the last games and is a threat to LSG's middle order.

Pitch and conditions

There are slight chances of rain in the evening but a large stoppage is unlikely. In terms of the pitch, 15 wickets have been taken by pacers so far in Lucknow and spinners only six. Lucknow did roll out a black-soil surface after Pant and LSG mentor Zaheer Khan had expressed disappointment over the lack of assistance for the spinners during their loss to Punjab Kings. But the spinners took only two of the ten wickets to fall in the 472-run game. They might have a better outing this time considering this is a day game.

LSG vs GT: Pitch & Weather Conditions

The pitch in Lucknow has been a batting-friendly one in the IPL, with the average score being 164 from 16 matches. Teams batting first have won eight games, while chasing teams have won seven times. One match between LSG and CSK in 2023 didn’t produce a result due to rain. This year, the average score at the Ekana has been 195, meaning that a high-scoring game is on the cards.

There is a seven percent chance of rain with intermittent clouds around, although they aren’t threatening. Temperatures will be around 35 degrees Celsius with the humidity on the lower side.

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Stats and Trivia

• LSG and GT are also the only teams to have scored more than 500 runs in the middle-overs this season
• GT, in this phase have lost only 8 wickets, the joint-least with Delhi Capitals
• Rashid has dismissed Pant three times and conceded 114 runs in 103 balls across 15 innings. He has a great record against David Miller too, whom he has dismissed 4 times in 59 balls while conceding only 67 runs

Quotes

"The games that we have won, we've kind of found ways to win, been under pressure with our bowling and batting at certain stages and getting through that and still winning, so for me that's the encouraging part for the team."

LSG batter David Miller on the team's form

"Ashish Nehra is a very compassionate about the players, and that's why it seems like [he is animated] from the outside. He cares a lot for people around him. It is good to see the combination of Ashish Nehra and Shubman Gill - they work very well and it's like hand in glove."

Gujarat Titans batter M Shahrukh Khan on Ashish Nehra and Shubman Gill

Head to head: LSG 1 - 4 GT. Lucknow's only win over this opposition came at this venue last year when they successfully defended 163/5.

Head to Head - Last 5 Matches

LSG won by 33 runs, 08-Apr-2024

GT won by 56 runs, 07-May-2023

GT won by 7 runs, 22-Apr-2023

GT won by 62 runs, 11-May-2022

GT won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining), 29-Mar-2022