What went wrong with LSG? From a good enough start to a careless finish: Spinmatch Analysis
The IPL 2025 season promised so much for Lucknow Super Giants. Leading the charge was their Rs 27 crore marquee signing, Rishabh Pant, and a side that looked ideally balanced on paper, so hopes were high. But now that the dust has finally settled on their campaign following a thorough knockout by Sunrisers Hyderabad, it’s time to dissect how LSG’s season went wrong. If you’re looking for a piece of good advice from the PROS in the industry of online cricket gaming, Spinmatch Cricket Guide is here with a winning IPL campaign.
A Promising Start That Faded Away
Lucknow began with enough promise to suggest that they could be serious players. As any avid reader of Spinmatch IPL updates would have known, the early matches had glimpses of a side getting into stride, particularly with Nicholas Pooran’s tournament-starting fireworks, in which he scored 30 sixes and became their hard-hitting strike force overnight.
“The first half of the season we played very well,” admitted captain Rishabh Pant after they were knocked out. Sure, they were seemingly cruising through the stormy waters of the league stage with middling success. But as the tournament’s commercial end approached, their game crashed sharply.
The Pant Problem
When LSG invested Rs 27 crore on Rishabh Pant, they were not just buying a player—they were buying a leader, a game-changer, and a marquee name to center their brand around. What they got in return was a shadow of the player who once used to strike fear into bowling attacks across the globe.
The numbers tell a sorry story: 135 from 12 matches at an anemic 12.27 average and a strike rate of just 100. It was a debacle for Spinmatch fantasy cricket players who had placed Pant in their teams expecting fireworks.
Perhaps most unsettling, however, was the evident tactical confusion regarding Pant’s role. The constant experimentation with his batting position—from being dropped to No. 7 against Delhi Capitals (his first time batting outside the top six since his debut in 2016) to being promoted to No. 3 against SRH—spoke of a team unsure how best to utilize their skipper’s abilities.
The sight of team owner Sanjiv Goenka hurrying to exit the stadium balcony following Pant’s languid dismissal by SRH aptly encapsulated the despair over their captain’s performance.
Bowling Woes Contributed by Injuries
Where LSG’s bowling was in crisis mode, batting was patchy. As admitted by Pant himself, “We had a lot of gaps going into the tournament. We decided not to talk about it, but it became difficult to close them out.”
Their pace bowling arsenal injury list reads like a who’s who:
- Mohsin Khan: Missing the entire season
- Mayank Yadav: The pace bowler who was one of LSG’s priority retentions, played little or no cricket before being injured again with back issues
- Avesh Khan: Struggled with fitness concerns and joined in the middle
- Akash Deep: Yet another expensive signing who wrestled with injury concerns
“The way we had planned for the auction, if we had the same bowling. Things would have been different,” said Pant.
Without their go-to attack, LSG struggled to hold totals and restrict opposition batting lineups. The SRH match was a prime example—after putting up a competitive 205, they watched helplessly while Abhishek Sharma’s 20-ball 59 paved the way for an untroubled chase that Sunrisers completed with 10 balls to spare. Stay tuned for Spinmatch IPL updates, and make sure you play your fantasy game accordingly.
Leadership Discord Behind the Scenes
Off the field, reports of grave disharmony in the leadership unit served as another piece of evidence for LSG’s distress. Different sources reported a breakdown in the working relationship between Head Coach Justin Langer and Team Mentor Zaheer Khan, creating a strained atmosphere.
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif was not hesitant to speak when he told Crictoday, “Zaheer and Langer don’t talk and sit together. They spoke to players in different ways. I get it when you are a new bunch, it takes time to settle down, but surprisingly, they don’t interact though they are part of the same core unit.”
The communication system appeared to be broken, with Zaheer expressing himself mostly with Pant and leaving out other players. This broken leadership environment allegedly fostered tension that later impacted on-field performance.
For Spinmatch IPL fans, this off-field drama provided context to the team’s more and more fragmented performances throughout the tournament.
The Pooran Paradox
Nicholas Pooran’s performance was a reflection of LSG’s path—sensational in the beginning, tapering off when it counted the most. The West Indian batsman started the tournament as their key weapon, thumping sixes with ease and instilling fear in opposition bowlers.
Though he experienced a dip later, Pooran was LSG’s top run-scorer with 455 runs in 12 innings, averaging 41.36 and striking at an impressive 197.82. However, his form declined in the crucial phase of the tournament, managing just 11 against Rajasthan Royals, 9 versus Delhi Capitals, and modest scores of 27 and 6 against Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, respectively. According to the Spinmatch cricket guide, maintaining consistency in the backend of the tournament is key—something LSG lacked when it mattered most.
His 45 off 26 balls against SRH came too late to save the season for LSG. For Spinmatch fantasy cricket, Pooran was rewarded and frustrated in equal proportion—belying match-winning heroics but becoming increasingly unpredictable as the season went along.
Silver Linings Amid the Disappointment
There were positives for LSG to learn from the season, even as there was overall disappointment:
- Opening Partnership: Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram formed a good opening partnership, providing good starts in the form of dazzling half-centuries against SRH.
- Batting Firepower: “We have a good batting lineup and have sufficient firepower, and that is the biggest positive for the season.” Pant said.
- Digvesh Rathi’s Arrival: Delhi’s legspinner from 25 made the headlines in his maiden IPL season, scoring 14 wickets in 12 matches at a good economy rate of 8.08. He picked 2 for 37 against SRH and was LSG’s most successful bowler.
“The bowler Rathi has performed for us,” acknowledged Pant. “The way he has bowled was really good to watch. Rathi is one of the positives.”
Conclusion:
LSG’s 2025 season serves as a cautionary tale—promising starts can quickly unravel when key players don’t perform, injuries strike, and internal issues grow. Their defeat to SRH summed up a campaign full of unfulfilled potential and rising frustrations.
For IPL 2026, the franchise must rebuild with clarity—sort out leadership, improve injury handling, and hope for a return to form for their captain. For more Spinmatch fantasy tips, follow us, and LSG’s story is a clear reminder: in T20 cricket, momentum is everything—and once lost, it’s tough to recover.
