IPL 2025: Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants face-off in a crucial mid-table clash

Dharamshala, May 3 (IANS) The picturesque Dharamshala will enter the IPL 2025 hosting party when Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants clash in a pivotal mid-table encounter crucial in deciding who surges ahead in the race to playoffs on Sunday evening.

PBKS, after winning over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, are fourth on the points table with six wins, and one no result, from 10 games, while LSG, back after a week-long break from the competition, are at sixth place with five wins from 11 matches.

Shreyas Iyer's strong leadership and good batting form have boosted PBKS. Iyer's tactical acumen in leading PBKS to victories and technical adjustments against short balls has meant that the right-handed batter is having a dream time in the competition.

It also helps PBKS that Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya have been in great form at the top of the order. In bowling, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen have been fantastic, which adds cutting edge to PBKS’ good showing in the competition.

On the other hand, with the situation dire for LSG, they are under more pressure to win their remaining games if they aim to enter the playoffs. Their skipper Rishabh Pant is struggling with the bat, which means responsibilities increase on the dangerous top order of Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran to give the team big scores.

With the ball, Mayank Yadav’s return against Mumbai Indians was heartening, though the rest of bowling line-up didn’t fare well as per the expectations in that 54-run loss. LSG have a 3-2 head-to-head edge over PBKS, but they will be mindful of Iyer & Co’s red-hot form as the competition nears its business end.

When: Sunday, May 4 at 7:30pm IST

Where: HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala

Where to watch: Live telecast on Star Sports Network and live streaming on JioHotstar

Squads

Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Avesh Khan, Aryan Juyal, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahmad, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Ayush Badoni, Akash Deep, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav.

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harnoor Pannu, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Vishnu Vinod, Josh Inglis, Suryansh Shedge, Harpreet Brar, Marco Jansen, Aaron Hardie, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Priyansh Arya, Praveen Dubey, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Kuldeep Sen, Xavier Bartlett.

--IANS

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