Nicholas Pooran's chilli challenge

As if the Indian summer isn't relentless enough, the Lucknow Super Giants team (LSG) team management found another way of bringing the heat on its players, spicing up an intra-team football game by having the losers eat chillies.

Coach Justin Langer first calls on Yuvraj Chaudhary, "one of most honest players in our team" to start the punishment, although it's the appropriately named Himmat Singh, whose name translates to "courage" who goes first - needing several spoonfuls of yoghurt later on to cool down. Next up, poor Matthew Breetzke pops one into his mouth, trying to be stoic till his mouth is on fire. Yuvraj follows.

Nicholas Pooran gets his turn next with Langer and LSC captain Rishabh Pant urging him on. He chews manfully and then lets out a roar, much to the delight of his team-mates. Is this all to put a fire in their bellies before the next game?

We also get a sneak-peek into the LSG team room in their hotel in Lucknow - there's table tennis, a pool table, fusball, a gaming area, the gym, chess, other board games for the players to enjoy. Breetzke says his favourite area is the TT table, where he's beaten Arshin Kulkarni several times and won money off of him.

LSG are currently fifth on the points table in IPL 2025, winning three of their five matches so far. They last beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four runs in a high-scoring game at Eden Gardens. Pooran scored an unbeaten 87 off 36 balls and Mitchell Marsh made 81 off 48.

Their next match is at home against table leaders Gujarat Titans on Saturday, April 12.