LSG vs GT, IPL 2025 Live Score: Pooran vs Rashid, Pant vs Gill captaincy battle awaits as Lucknow face Gujarat

LSG vs GT, IPL 2025 Live Score: Lucknow Super Giants take on Gujarat Titans.

LSG have had a disbalanced unit in terms of their batting and bowling so far, with the form and power of Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran meaning they are reliably putting on big scores and heaping the pressure onto opposition bowlers. Equally, their bowling has been somewhat makeshift, leaky and threatening to undo the work of their batting, but have also shown up just enough to see them through to three wins.

Digvesh Rathi has been one of the finds of the tournament, with his crafty leg-spin and his refusal to back down in the face of fines following his notebook celebration. LSG fans will be hoping his passion and fervour translates to the rest of the bowling group, in particular the pacers. GT’s stacked top order batting means early wickets is the name of the game: allow Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, or Jos Buttler to fall into a rhythm, and it has spelt trouble for teams so far this tournament.

This battle will come down to GT’s bowling, with the form of Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Sai Kishore, trying to keep Marsh, Pooran, Rishabh Pant and company quiet. Do LSG have a plan B if their in-form batters falter? They will need Rishabh Pant in particular to stand up and take some responsibility after a horrendously subpar start to the season, one which saw him demote himself and not even bat in his team’s effort of 238 against KKR in their previous game.

GT will see Rashid Khan refinding his form as key as well. Pooran in particular has been trigger happy against spinners, whacking even Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy all over the ground at the Eden Gardens. Rashid hasn’t been his same self, expensive at times and lacking the same wicket threat, but he put in his best IPL performance with ball in a good long while in GT’s last match against RR. The two wickets will give him confidence, and confidence will be key for the Afghanistan talisman as he will be given the responsibility of outfoxing and containing the brutality of Pooran.

GT will also back their top order to make good against the LSG bowling attack, but can they protect their middle order time and time again? It hasn’t been a concern thus far in the tournament, with Sai Sudharsan rapidly establishing himself as one of the finest starters in the IPL: no Indian player has close to his 1307 runs in their first 30 innings, scored at an average of nearly 49 and a strike-rate over 140. Sudharsan is hunting down a role in the Indian team, and the way he has performed so far, it will take a really special bowling unit to figure out any sort of weakness in his game. Do LSG have that sort of quality? They do have bowlers who have a tendency to produce wickets out of nowhere.

GT could continue to open up a gap between them and the chasing pack, keep applying pressure to a Delhi Capitals team that is unbeaten but behind them on NRR. Conversely, LSG will want to boost their own NRR, and join those two teams on eight. A strong performance against the table-toppers at their home ground will quickly see them join the conversation for potential playoff locks.