Blog - Prabhsimran's 23-ball fifty blindsides LSG

Iyer brings up his half-century and completes the chase with one blow: a six over wide long-on

Iyer and Wadhera continue to play their shots as PBKS rush towards victory. PBKS are establishing themselves as the early pace-setters, alongside RCB and DC, in IPL 2025.

LSG have packed their side with spinners, expecting more turn and help for the slower bowlers, but the ball continues to skid onto the bat, especially in the chase. They even left Prince Yadav out, but it hasn't worked for them.

It felt like you needed something special to get Prabh tonight. That something special is a tag-team catch near the boundary from Badoni and Bishnoi. Prabhsimran gone for 69 off 34 balls. PBKS need just 62 off 59 balls with eight wickets in the shed. Impact Player and Punjab's very own Wadhera in at No.4 for PBKS

Prince Yadav, who was vital to LSG's victory against SRH, misses out in this game. M Siddharth, the left-arm fingerspinner, has been brought in as the Impact Player instead. Prabhsimran welcomes him with a switch-hit four. He throws the first punch at Siddarth and puts him under pressure straightaway. He ends up leaking 15 off his first over.

Prabhsimran has notched up his fifty off 23 balls and looks good for more.

He relishes pace on the ball. He used it to his advantage against both Thakur and Avesh in the first two overs. In the final over of the powerplay, he's ready for the wrong'un, which is Bishnoi's stock ball, and slog-sweeps him for fours over mid-on and square leg.

Prabhsimran has scored 45 of the 62 runs PBKS have scored in the powerplay. Just the kind of start they would've wanted, despite the loss of Arya. Iyer had also expected dew to set in and make the chase easier.

Prabhsimran and Ayra take 20 off the first two overs, with Prabhsimran claiming 17 of those runs. The wicketkeeper-batter had ramped Thakur and Avesh for six and four respectively.

Pant responds by throwing mystery spinner Digvesh Rathi at them. He creates a chance off his second ball, but Mitch Marsh drops the overhead catch at slip. Arya was on 7 at that point. After adding just one to his tally, he falls to Rathi in the same over.

Rathi cranks it up to 99.2kph and bowls a slider into the red-soil surface. The ball doesn't come onto the bat as Arya hacks it to Thakur running around from mid-on. PBKS are 27 for 1 in three overs. Rathi gives his Delhi mate a send-off and emulates Kesrick Williams' notebook celebration. That was fun.

Late blows from Abdul Samad and Ayush Badoni dragged Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to 171 for 7 on a two-paced red-soil pitch after Punjab Kings (PBKS) had opted to bowl.

Such a competitive total seemed beyond LSG's reach after Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, who had replaced Azmatullah Omarzai, and Glenn Maxwell had carved up their top order. At the end of the powerplay, LSG were 39 for 3. Maxwell had just dismissed LSG captain Rishabh Pant for 2 off five balls with an innocuous delivery. LSG, however, offset the early slide by taking 63 off the last six overs of their innings.

While Badoni anchored their innings with 41 off 33 balls, Samad kicked into top gear right away, smacking 27 off 12 balls, including two sixes and two fours. Samad left jaws on the door when he reverse-scooped Arshdeep Singh over the keeper for four in the 18th over, which cost PBKS 20 runs. Arshdeep bounced back to dismiss both Badoni and Samad in the final over, but the pair had done enough to repair the innings.

Arshdeep had also started well earlier in the evening, snaring Mitchell Marsh for a golden duck. His opening partner Aiden Markram moved to 28 off 18 balls before Ferguson bowled him via an inside edge. PBKS then matched Maxwell up with Pant and got him cheaply too.

A cat-and-mouse game then ensued between Nicholas Pooran and Yuzvendra Chahal. When the wristspinner looped a couple of wrong'uns away from Pooran's reach in his first over, the batter carved those away for fours. In his next over, though, Chahal cut Pooran's innings short at 44 off 30 balls with a loopier googly. LSG were 89 for 4 in the 12th over at that point. Samad and Badnoni then got together in the end overs to help push that total past 170.

Badani and Samad have lined up Arshdeep in the 18th over, pasting him for 20 runs. They are keeping LSG in it. The pick of the boundaries was an outrageous reverse-scoop by Samad.

Samad had originally shaped to pick it away over short fine leg. Having spotted it, Arshdeep speared a wide full-toss. Samad adjusts and reverse-scoops it over the keeper for four. LSG are 156 for 5 in 18 overs. Samad has raced away to 23 off 7 balls.

Chahal leaves the field after claiming figures of 4-0-36-1. Nehal Wadhera is PBKS' Impact Player. He makes his franchise debut

Miller had started well against spin, but Jansen finds some extra bounce to dismiss him for 19 off 18 balls. Back of a length, from left-arm over, and swerves away with extra bounce. Miller wafts at it and offers catching practice to the keeper. LSG are 119 for 5 in the 16th over. If LSG continue to lose wickets, they might have to bring in Shahbaz Ahmed or Himmat Singh as their Impact Player. It might leave their bowling short of options later in the evening.

How often have we seen this from Chahal? He dangles a wrong'un wide of off, gets it to break away from Pooran even further. Despite being picked away for 4,4,6 in his previous over by Pooran, Chahal bravely tosses it up to the big-hitter and has him holing out to wide long-off. Pooran loses his shape this time, as Chahal makes him reach out for the ball, and ends up miscuing it to the outfielder. Gone for 44 off 30 balls. Terrific comeback from Chahal. That's why PBKS forked out INR 18 crore for his wristspin.

Chahal is a clever bowler. He tries to stay away from Pooran's hitting arc by dangling wrong'uns wide of off. Pooran still connects with it and scythes Chahal away between point and cover for a brace of fours, aided by a misfield from Iyer. It forces Chahal to change it up and bowl a legbreak, which is crashed over his head for six. The ball isn't really coming onto the bat either but Pooran can manufacture his own power.

Ask Stoinis too. In the next over, Pooran cracks Stoinis' cutters away to the boundary and makes it look ridiculously easy.

Early wickets tend to push most batters back. But Pooran isn't most batters. He attacks Maxwell's offspin and picks him away for back-to-back fours in a ten-run over from Maxwell.

With two lefties in the middle, PBKS bring in Maxwell ahead of their premier swing bowler Jansen. Maxwell gets rid of Pant once again, having him caught at short fine leg with a half-tracker. Pant's scores in IPL 2025: 0, 15, 2

Ferguson usually operates with the old ball, but PBKS have handed the new ball to him to try and take advantage of his match-up with LSG's No.3 Pooran. This is only the second time since 2021 he's taking the new ball in the IPL.

Markram picks him away for a pair of boundaries, but Ferguson strikes back to bowl Markram for 28.

Mitch Marsh had a good start to IPL 2025, hitting fifties in his first two innings, but goes for a first-ball duck in his third.

Arshdeep bangs his first ball to Marsh into the middle of the red-soil pitch. The ball does bounce and shape away, after starting on leg stump, but it comes not come onto the bat. Marsh closes his bat-face early and skies a leading edge to Jansen at short third. LSG 3 for 1 after one over.

Arshdeep produces another chance in his second over, but ends up dropping a rather difficult return catch. Markram was on 8 at that point.

Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl on a red-soil surface in Lucknow. While Iyer was unsure about how the pitch would behave, he expected dew to set in later in the evening.

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant didn't mind batting first. While LSG made no tweaks to their XI, PBKS made one change, bringing in New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson for Afghanistan allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai.

This will be Ferguson's first competitive game since early February, when he hurt his hamstring while playing for Desert Vipers in the UAE's ILT20. He was subsequently sidelined from the Champions Trophy. Ferguson's extra pace and bounce could pose a threat on this red-soil pitch. He also has a good record against Nicholas Pooran in T20 cricket: four wickets in 17 balls at a strike rate of 7.05.

PBKS: 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 3 Shreyas Iyer(c), 4 Shashank Singh, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Suryansh Shedge, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Impact subs: Vyshak Vijaykumar, Pravin Dubey, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod

LSG: 1 Mitchell Marsh, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk ), 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 David Miller, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Digvesh Singh Rathi, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Ravi Bishnoi

Impact Subs: Prince Yadav, M Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed, Himmat Singh, Akash Singh

NZ fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, who had sustained a hamstring injury during the UAE's ILT20 and was subsequently sidelined from the Champions Trophy, seems good to go now. Daya Sagar, who is in Lucknow, has spotted Ferguson marking his run-up. So, no Omarzai for PBKS? We will find out at the toss shortly.

A red-soil surface is likely to be used for today's game, so Ferguson could pose a threat with his pace and bounce.