The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ended their campaign with another heavy defeat and has made sure they will be the wooden spoon holders of IPL 2026. They are certain to finish 10th with MI just ahead of them. It was a case of same things happening over and over again and though they were good in patches and threatened PBKS, but they were not good enough. PBKS kept their playoff hopes alive. We will try and give you reasons for their loss in this game.
Continuous underperformance of Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant hampered the progress
LSG were put into bat first and started well thanks to Josh Inglis. With Mitchell Marsh unavailable, it was a lone show from Inglis as he hardly got support from the other end. Arshin Kulkarni fell early while Nicholas Pooran endured another failure. Ayush Badoni looked good till he was there as if we compare both the power plays, the match was in the balance as it cancelled each other out.
It was the middle overs that was the problem for LSG with no Marsh around. Inglis tried but he lost wickets from the other end. Rishabh Pant was there and gutsing it out, but he looked less fluent while Pooran did not even last beyond the power play. These two big signing players keep on underperforming, then what can other players do. The inning lost steam in the middle overs and that was the difference in the end.
A score of 220 would have challenged Punjab, but 196 was in their grasp and Punjab chased it down in the end. It will be back to the drawing board now for LSG as they have to look hard at themselves as to where they went wrong and come back stronger next season. This has been a disastrous season as they finish bottom of the points table. They need to look at hard at themselves.
Dropped catch of Prabhsmiran Singh by Rishabh Pant off Arjun Tendulkar costs the home team the match
The LSG team started well with the ball as they removed Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly relatively early inside the power play as Shami was on fire. To be fair, Punjab fought back well and made sure that the power play was even stevens. Then Arjun Tendulkar came into the attack and showed great promise out there. Prabhsimran was batting on 20* when Arjun delivered a bumper that surprised him. Singh went for the pull shot and got the top edge to Pant.
Rishabh Pant leapt and tried to take the catch, as he got fingertips to it, but could not take the catch. That was a costly miss as catches win matches. Prabhsimran went on to add 49 more runs to the score and more importantly created the partnership with Shreyas Iyer who was the real star. Had that catch being taken, a new batter would have come in and who knows Shreyas would have felt the pinch. This was a pressure game for PBKS. But it did not happen as the duo added 140 runs for the 3rd wicket and by the time Singh fell to Arjun, the game was over.
As the old saying goes, catches win matches. PBKS got lucky today as they too dropped catches, but did not prove costly. But this dropped catch hurt Punjab a lot to be honest. LSG when they look back on the season, it is a case of not playing good cricket and missed opportunities that is the reason why they have lost this game and the tournament as a whole and they will stay in 10th place.
Inability to take Shreyas Iyer’s wicket and wickets post power play hurt LSG
The other aspect to keep in mind was the inability to take Shreyas Iyer’s wicket and most importantly wickets post the power play. This is a concerning area for LSG as they lacked wicket-taking bowlers last night. They did not hit form at all. Shreyas Iyer applied himself and batted like a dream. But there was no planning and attempt made to unsettle him. They bowled slot balls to the captain of PBKS who was outstanding. Prabhsimran too impressed one and all through his consistency.
The LSG team did take two wickets in the power play, but failed to get wickets post the field restrictions. They were unable to induce chances in the middle phase. Yes, one chance was dropped but apart from that, it was all PBKS as they got there without breaking a sweat. They managed to get Prabhsimran at the end of the 15th over, but that was a token wicket as the damage was done already. It has been seen that LSG struggle to get wickets post the power play phase and that came back to haunt them yesterday.
LSG needs to tighten up their bowling post power play and have a good look hard at themselves. It is back to the drawing board for that franchise and how they can come back well next season. It would require a lot of hard work to come back and do well in the next season. A bit of revamping the squad among other things is needed to be done to do well here. But these are areas they need to work on going forward.
What Lies Ahead
So, PBKS hold on their breath for a playoff spot with the win. They will be in their hotels watching MI vs RR. MI wins, they are through while RR wins, RR will go through. So, we are set for the final double header in IPL 2026 as MI hosts RR in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon while KKR hosts DC in Kolkata later tonight. The KKR-DC game’s importance will be determined as to what’s happening in the afternoon clash.
An epic final day awaits us now. It’s going to be fun. Let’s see how the results pan out.
Also Read: LSG vs PBKS: Shreyas Iyer’s Maiden IPL Ton Helps PBKS Stay Alive In Playoffs