IPL 2025, LSG vs MI preview: Will Mumbai Indians break Lucknow Super Giants' dominance?

The Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants to lock horns with Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians in the 16th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, April 4. 

Lucknow Super Giants had a shaky start to their quest for the maiden IPL title. Rishabh Pant-led side lost their opening match against Delhi Capitals before making a comeback to earn their first win of the season by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, LSG failed to maintain winning momentum as they lost their first match of the season against Punjab Kings. With a win and two losses, LSG are currently at the sixth spot on the points table with two points. 

The Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, had a disappointing start to their season, losing two successive matches against the Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans. In the following match, the Hardik Pandya-led side turned their tables around and registered their first win of the season in front of the home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, defeating the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders. With a win and two losses, MI are currently at the fifth spot on the points table with two points.

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IPL 2025, LSG vs MI preview: Mumbai Indians aim to break Lucknow Super Giants’ dominance

Mumbai Indians are quite unsuccessful when it comes to playing against Lucknow Super Kings. The two sides have met six times in the IPL since 2022, with LSG emerging victorious on five occasions and MI winning only one match. Given the head-to-head record, Lucknow Super Giants have upper hand over Mumbai Indians, making them favourites heading into the clash. 

However, with a morale-boosting win against Kolkata Knight Riders, Hardik Pandya’s MI will look to turn the tide to break LSG’s dominance over them. Mumbai Indians’ batting has been a concern, with their veteran opener Rohit Sharma failing to perform in the last three matches. Nonetheless, Ryan Rickelton managed to find his form in the match against KKR, where he played a match-winning innings of 62 off 41 balls, complemented by Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire knock of 27 off 9 balls. 

Mumbai Indians’ bowling unit looks balanced, with Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar taking crucial wickets in powerplay, In the match against KKR, MI unearthed a new talent, Ashwani Kumar, who had a dream debut, registered the best figures by Indian bowler on an IPL debut (4/24). Vignesh Puthur, another young talent unearthed by MI this season, too has made an impact with the ball. 

IPL 2025, LSG vs MI preview: Lucknow Super Giants over-reliant on Pooran and Marsh

Throughout the season so far, Lucknow Super Giants have been over-reliant on Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh, whose explosive batting has been the backbone of their batting lineup. Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad too contributed with valuable innings, which were evident in the last match against Punjab Kings. 

However, LSG’s major concern has been Rishabh Pant’s form. The LSG skipper has yet to make an impact with his willow. Despite being bought for INR 27 crore by the franchise, Pant was not able to justify his price tag yet. The team management will be hoping for Rishabh Pant to come up with an impactful performance and take responsibility to anchor the innings in the middle overs and in the death overs. 

Lucknow Super Giants’ bowling attack, spearheaded by Shardul Thakur and Ravi Bishnoi, has lacked consistency. After taking six wickets in the first two matches, Thakur went wicketless while conceding 39 runs against Punjab Kings. The bowling unit needs to step up and deliver a disciplined performance against Mumbai Indians.

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IPL 2025, LSG vs MI preview: Squads

Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (C & WK), David Miller, Aiden Markram, Aryan Juyal, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Ayush Badoni, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Satyanarayana Raju, Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Vignesh Puthur, Karn Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Reece Topley, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Krishnan Shrijith