Punjab Kings, after a couple of iffy games, got back to form against the Chennai Super Kings in the last game and with three matches approaching in Dharamsala back-to-back, they will be keen to seal the spot in the playoffs with four matches remaining.
Punjab Kings begin their Dharamsala leg in the ongoing IPL season against the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday evening. The Kings, after a iffy couple of weeks with a stop-start schedule, a defeat and a washed-out game, got their campaign back on track with a much-needed victory against the Chennai Super Kings, a few days ago. Shreyas Iyer coming good, Prabhsimran Singh being consistent and Yuzvendra Chahal bowling well – it was a good game from the local players’ standpoint for the Kings and as they make the late playoff charge, their No 1 priority will be to get their foreigners in some touch.
A couple of them have already been ruled out due to injury, while the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis haven’t really hit their straps yet. On the other hand, the Lucknow Super Giants have lost three in a row as their overdependence on Mitchell Marsh and especially, Nicholas Pooran has been exposed in the last few games and with either of them not clicking, Rishabh Pant and Co are falling short of putting up good scores and chasing the big ones.
Mayank Yadav returned to the fold in the last game at the Wankhede Stadium for the Super Giants and will be a handful in fast and overcast conditions in Dharamsala. But as it was the case at the start of the season, LSG are lacking an outright quality pacer or spinner, who could change the game on its head. Digvesh Rathi has done well, but against good batters in the last game, he went the distance too. It should be a good game but the Kings start as favourites.
My Dream11 team for IPL 2025 Match 54, PBKS vs LSG
Prabhsimran Singh, Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Nicholas Pooran, Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh (C), Mayank Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar
Probable Playing XIIs
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis (wk), Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vyshak Vijaykumar
Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), David Miller, Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav