LSG vs PBKS: IPL 2025 Match Prediction, Playing 11, Pitch Report

Match Preview:

The 13th match of the IPL 2025, which is scheduled on April 1 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, will feature the Lucknow Super Giants hosting the Punjab Kings. The costliest and second-costliest players in IPL history will square off.

LSG’s new captain, Rishabh Pant, will play his old DC coach, Ricky Ponting, who is a member of PBKS, for the first time. In this match, the Indian batting sensation will be keen to silence his detractors and let his bat speak for itself. In contrast, Iyer guided PBKS to victory in the first match with an unbeaten score of 97. The captain of the 2024 Indian Premier League is enjoying playing at number three and hopes to keep it up.

In their first home game, Rishabh Pant and his team will look to continue their winning streak from their five-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last meeting. The team’s batting attack was led by top-order batsmen Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, who amassed 52 and 70 runs, respectively, helping them attain the target of 191 with four overs remaining.

However, in their first matchup with the Gujarat Titans, the Punjab Kings were outstanding. They scored 243 runs in the first innings thanks to the scorching performance of star batsman Shashank Singh and the unbeaten 97 of captain Shreyas Iyer. The winners of the 2022 Indian Premier League lost by 11 runs.

This season, the Punjab Kings are off to a scorching start in the lucrative competition. But as of right now, their bowling attack doesn’t seem really credible. However, LSG’s bowling attack is also being questioned, despite their apparent batting prowess.

LSG vs PBKS Ekana Stadium Pitch Report:

Over the years, spinners have benefited from the Ekana stadium surface. It moves slowly, and the ball is difficult to get onto the bat. Bowlers who bowl more slowly gain some grip and turn off the surface. This game’s wicket can be comparable as well.

The stadium’s borders are comparatively longer than those of Indian standards. By tossing the ball up often, spinners would want to utilize it. Different types of pacers might have an impact. The bowlers’ key would be to not offer pace. In the middle overs, batters need to rotate their strikes well, and in the Powerplay overs, they need to maximize the batting conditions.

LSG vs PBKS Match Details:

Match: Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings, Match 13, IPL 2025

Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow

Date & Time: 1st April, Tuesday 2025, 7:30PM(IST)

Live Streaming: JioHotstar

Head-to-Head Record:

Match Played: 4

LSG: 3

PBKS: 1

LSG vs PBKS, April 1, IPL Prediction:

In the past, LSG has outperformed PBKS, winning three of their last four meetings. This finally suggests LSG has a higher winning probability of 75%, while PBKS has a 25% chance.

Lucknow Super Giants

Rishabh Pant (C), DA Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, A Badoni, AK Markram, MR Marsh, Ravi Bishnoi, P Yadav, Avesh Khan, and Shardul Thakur

Punjab Kings

P Simran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (C), M Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, GJ Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shashank Singh, MP Stoinis, and Yuzvendra Chahal

Shreyas Iyer is unlikely to stay with KKR.

The Kolkata Knight Riders are letting go of Shreyas Iyer. In talks with the team’s management, the Mumbai batter has shown himself to be a tough negotiator, seemingly compelling the reigning champions to give up on their skipper.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will receive KKR’s retention list on Thursday night. It is now expected that he will not be on it. Even though exercising the Right to Match (RTM) card is still an option, that will have to wait until later more specifically, until the auction time. Which is sometime next month.

Given that Indian players are typically chosen by teams as captains. Especially after KKR won the championship the previous season. He could be a candidate for leadership roles. IPL rumors state that a few organizations have apparently approached him. Shreyas Iyer was allegedly requesting an outrageous fee.

Even though one is permitted to have a heightened picture of one’s résumé. IPL professionals usually discuss whether fitness concerns, prior performances, and present international status exactly add up before making a decision on a player. It’s no secret that the IPL’s valuation is determined by extensive statistical analysis.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Shreyas Iyer was purchased by KKR in the 2022 auction, and his current IPL pay is INR 12.25 crore. He averaged 30.85 while scoring 401 runs in 14 games during the season. Due to five innings without a loss in the 2024 season, he scored 50 fewer runs at an average of 39. He had to get surgery for a recurrent back ailment that kept him out of the 2023 season. He has amassed 3127 runs at an average of 32.24 with a strike rate of 127.48 during nine seasons and 115 games. After skipping a Ranji Trophy match the previous season. He lost favor with the national selectors and is currently without a central BCCI contract.

The question of whether teams can have conversations with players. While they are still under contract with a franchise is a hot topic among the teams ahead of the IPL retention. It has been related to certain individuals. The BCCI has even been made aware of this problem.

IPL

Since player agents are thought to be rather active behind the scenes. It is probable that they are conducting the discussions. They are promising and discussing astronomical amounts. However, the question still stands: how can a player be confident they will receive a sizable bid at the auction, whose dynamics are infamously uncertain?

The new RTM rule, which permits a club to increase a player’s bid to a predetermined amount only in the event that the franchise holding the RTM card exercises the option, is a likely solution. They might decide not to utilize it, which is always a possibility.

In the event that Player X enters the auction with a guaranteed INR 25 crore and the bidding ends at INR 15 crore, for instance, the rival team can only increase the price to INR 25 crore. If the original franchise chooses to exercise the RTM. In the absence of that RTM, the player might receive less than INR 15 crore. So what?

This investigation focuses on players who are assured high bids at the auction prior to the retention deadline. If not specifically one player. With ten teams and six RTMs each, there may be at least 25 RTMs at the auction, if not all 60. There is always a danger that the guarantee and pre-bid agreement will get broken.