Five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who have not really clicked so far this season, with just two points from three games, will take on Lucknow Super Giants in a clash between two struggling teams in the Indian Premier League on Friday.
India captain Rohit`s form with the bat has put the MI team management in a tight spot. The same is for LSG skipper Pant whose extended dry run is not helping matters for the home side.
With both the teams almost identically placed with a solitary win each in three games, the contest could boil down to who exploits the conditions better on the day.
Given that the curators haven`t been providing tailor-made pitches to the home sides — something that has caused frustration of the coaches and players in some franchises — the team that gets a head-start with the bat or ball in the power play overs could call the shots.
The prolonged absence of MI pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah due to injury and the management maintaining a stoic silence on his return is only adding to the frustration of the Hardik Pandya-led side.
MI, though, found success in the handy pace of young left-armer Ashwani Kumar, who single-handedly demolished defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders with excellent figures of 4/24 in three overs in their win at home on March 31.
Lucknow Super Giants, placed sixth behind MI, have not really hit their strides following their demoralising one-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals in the IPL opener at Visakhapatnam.
While West Indies` Nicholas Pooran has been in sublime form and is leading the scoring charts with 189 runs from three games, including two half-centuries, his exploits have not rubbed off on other LSG batters, except Australian Mitchell Marsh, who too has two half-tons so far in this edition.
Much of their woes are due to their bowling, led by Shardul Thakur and Ravi Bishnoi, and the poor form of their charismatic captain Pant with the bat.
LSG vs MI, IPL 2025 live updates: Full teams
Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Himmat Singh, Shamar Joseph, Aryan Juyal, Arshin Kulkarni, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manimaran Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Yadav.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naman Dhir, Vignesh Puthur, Satyanarayana Raju, Ryan Rickelton, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Reece Topley, Suryakumar Yadav.
LSG vs MI, IPL 2025 live updates: Toss update
Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bowl first against home team Lucknow Super Giants.