The Indian Premier League 2025 has been a season of two halves for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and we introspect as the tournament halts for a week just as the playoff race was firing up.
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LSG, under the new leadership of Rishabh Pant, exceeded expectations with their performances at the start of the season, which had faced setbacks with injuries to key pacers.
However, despite a good start, they currently sit 7th on the table with the worst net run rate among the teams still in contention for the playoffs.
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In this article, TSN takes a look at the areas of concern for LSG as the season pauses for a week.
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IPL 2025: How has LSG performed in their last five matches?
In the early part of the tournament, LSG looked like one of the contenders to finish in the top-2 on the table, with 4 wins in 6 matches played. But, since their frontline bowlers started returning and everyone expected them to continue the form, they suddenly saw a dip.
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In the next 5 matches, they only managed a solitary win that came against the Rajasthan Royals with a margin of 2 runs. They have lost 4/5 of their last matches and are on the brink of elimination.
Form: L L L WL
3 areas LSG need to improve before IPL 2025 playoffs
With three matches remaining and 10 points on the board, all is not in LSG's hands, and they will need to depend on other teams' results for their qualification.
Additionally, fixing the concerns below could give them the best chance of qualification.
1. Form of the middle order:
Starting with Rishabh Pant, LSG has struggled with the middle-order contributions. Pant has only scored 128 runs in 10 innings so far.
On the other hand, LSG's star batter, Nicholas Pooran, who had 4 fifties and a 44 in the first 6 matches, has only scored 61 runs in the last five matches.
A boost in their form would be crucial to their push for the playoffs as the two aggressive batters can single-handedly take the game away, when in full song.
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2. Poor Net Run Rate:
LSG is the only team with a negative net run rate among the seven teams still alive in the tournament. They will need to ensure not only a win in their remaining three matches, but also win them with a big margin to have an outside chance of qualification.
Their NRR is -0.469, the next worst being Kolkata Knight Riders' +0.193; they are also not certain to make it to the playoffs.
3. High Economy Rate - Bowlers leaking runs:
In the 11 matches played in the tournament, the Super Giants are the team with the worst economy rate among all 10 teams. Their 9.99 runs per over economy is worse than the already eliminated Chennai Super Kings (9.35), Sunrisers Hyderabad (9.85), and Rajasthan Royals (9.96).
Their powerplay economy of 10.54 is also the worst among the 10 teams in the league.
On average, they have conceded 193.72 runs every match. So, Pant's men will have to tighten up the things in the bowling department to stand a chance of getting into the top-4.
Additionally, one of their key players, Mayank Yadav, has not hit the ground running after returning from injury. He has had an economy of 12.50 in the two matches played so far.