IPL 2025: A season of what ifs for LSG; Where did they go wrong?

IPL 2025 Review: What went wrong for Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) this season?

The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) became the latest team to be eliminated from the ongoing IPL, following their defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday at Lucknow. The six-wicket loss at home was LSG’s fourth successive defeat, and this string of losses dented their playoff chances.

So, where did LSG lose the plot to be placed seventh, having won just 5 of the 12 games they have played? 

Rishabh Pant not amongst the runs
Not so long ago, at the IPL 2025 auction, Rishabh Pant became the costliest buy in the tournament’s history, having been brought by LSG for a whopping 27 crores. Appointed as the skipper, the Lucknow-based franchise would have hoped for a watershed season from him, but that has not been quite the case.

The wicket-keeper batter managed to score a mere 135 runs in 11 innings at a lowly average of 12.27 and crossed the 50-run mark just once, that too in a losing cause against CSK. He batted at every position from opening to No.6, but the runs dried out through the course of this season. Pant never looked at ease in the crease and found ways to get out every given time.

His indifferent form is one of the reasons why LSG has faltered to post huge totals and take advantage of the middle-overs, despite getting good starts invariably.

Read More: IPL 2025: INR 27 cr pick Rishabh Pant proving to be a bid gone wrong for LSG?

Middle order not clicking as a team
If we look at the top 15 run-getters of the season thus far, all three designated top-order batters of LSG made the cut. The trio of Mitchell Marsh (443), Aiden Markram (409) and Nicholas Pooran (455) have all amassed more than 400 runs this season. Gujarat Titans is the only other team where all their top 3 have piled up at least 400 runs.

Despite having such an in-form top order, LSG couldn’t cash on and bat the opposition out of the contest consistently. The reason being the lacklustre returns from the middle-order, and this includes the likes of an experienced David Miller, youngsters Ayush Badoni & Abdul Samad and of course Rishabh Pant. 

While Miller had a great stint with GT before this season, he could muster only 153 in 11 outings in IPL 2025. Youngster Badoni is the fourth highest run-getter for LSG with 329, but most of those runs have come when the game was already out of LSG’s hands, and Samad (163) needs to play more than these 10-ball cameos. The trio has made some individual contributions but not fired as a whole, which has led to LSG’s downfall.

So, despite getting strong starts more often, the inconsistency and lack of fire power in the middle-order has resulted in LSG settling to below par totals. This given their inexperienced and mediocre bowling attack.

Read More: IPL 2025: Digvesh Rathi the find of the season for LSG

Injuries to front line bowlers at the start of the season hit LSG hard
In the team’s very first match of the season, LSG went in with an inexperienced bowling unit thanks to injuries to some of their first-choice bowlers like Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav and Akash Singh. Their most experienced pacer was the injury replacement Shardul Thakur and had to contend with raw bowlers like Digvesh Rathi, Manimaran Siddharth, Prince Yadav among others. 

In the first six games, they won 4 thanks to their batters scoring big runs and someone like Avesh Khan winning a game on his own, Rathi and Yadav chipping in. However, they couldn’t sustain good performances over a period of time and eventually, skipper Pant ran out of resources on the field. 

It is the inexperienced bowling attack of LSG that can be cited as a reason behind LSG’s early exit and mediocre performances by players such as Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi didn’t help them either.

Read More: IPL 2025, LSG vs SRH, Highlights: Sunrisers defeat Lucknow; latter knocked out of tournament