Top News

Mullanpur: Table-topping Punjab Kings will rely on strong batting to maintain their winning streak against struggling Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Sunday. The Lucknow team is also worried about the injury of captain Rishabh Pant. Punjab Kings have been the only unbeaten team so far this season. The team has won four out of five matches, while one match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was canceled due to rain.

The Shreyas Iyer-led team has a net run rate of +1.067, which reflects their strong batting and consistent target-chasing ability. Punjab has won nine of its last 11 matches while chasing the target since the 2025 season, which is a testament to its dominance. This was clearly visible in the recent win against Mumbai Indians also. To stop this momentum of the host team, LSG will have to perform exceptionally. LSG, currently placed seventh in the points table, is under pressure after two consecutive defeats.

Captain Rishabh Pant’s elbow injury in the last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore has further increased the team’s problems. Pant was groaning in pain and retired hurt after playing just three balls. Although he returned to bat later, his elbow was bandaged at that time. In such a situation, his availability in Sunday’s match still remains uncertain.

The match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was one-sided. Despite the struggle of Mukul Chaudhary and Ayush Badoni, LSG team could score only 146 runs. Lucknow’s batting has not been in rhythm so far and the team has not been able to cross the 200-run mark yet in this season. In contrast, Punjab has crossed the 200-mark twice and in the last match against Mumbai was heading towards victory by scoring 198 runs for 3 wickets in 16.3 overs. Punjab’s opening batsman Prabhsimran Singh (211 runs) is in excellent form. He and captain Shreyas Iyer (203 runs) are performing impressively with strike rates of 172.95 and 187.96 respectively. Both of them had made an important partnership in the victory against Mumbai. Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly have also strengthened the team’s batting. In bowling, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh showed signs of returning to form by taking three wickets for 22 runs against Mumbai.

Prince Yadav has been the most successful bowler for LSG with nine wickets. He is followed by Avesh Khan (five wickets) and Mohammed Shami (four wickets). However, Shami looked helpless in front of Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar in the last match. Digvesh Rathi also proved costly in the last match, where Jitesh Sharma and Tim David scored quickly against him.

In batting, Mukul Chaudhary (127 runs), Aiden Markram (120 runs), Mitchell Marsh (115 runs) and Ayush Badoni (113 runs) have scored most of the runs, but the team will have to adopt a more aggressive approach to make a comeback. The team will expect good performance from Marsh, Markram and Nicholas Pooran, who has failed to play big innings so far. To register a win against Punjab Kings, the team’s batsmen will have to perform well.

teams

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Priyansh Arya, Payla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Vishnu Vinod (wicketkeeper), Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Cooper Connolly, Marco Yanson, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Ben Dwarshuis, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vishal Nishad, Vijaykumar Vaishyak, Yash Thakur.

Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (captain), Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Matthew Bretzke, Mukul Chaudhary, Akshat Raghuvanshi, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Wanindu Hasranga, Ayush Badoni, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, M Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar, Enrique Norkia, Naman Tiwari, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan.

Timing: Match will start at 7:30 PM.