Despite the firepower of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) batting line-up and their recent 286/6 demolition of Rajasthan Royals, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant exuded calm confidence as he opted to bowl first after winning the toss in Match 7 of IPL 2025 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.
Rishabh Pant: We will bowl first. I think we got to get them out early and look to chase the target. It depends on the team combination, that’s why we want to bowl first. We have the batting to chase it down. The only change is Avesh comes back, Shahbaz misses out. We gonna chase whatever they score, doesn’t matter.
Pat Cummins: It doesn’t change the way our boys go about it, we always try to be positive. It’s great fun. You know what you are signing up for coming into this tournament. Even going for 10 or 11 runs in an over, that can be match winning on somedays. We want to win games as a team and do well as a bowling unit. Hopefully we score big. We are playing with the same team like the other day.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Simarjeet Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), David Miller, Ayush Badoni, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav
The pitch remains firm and barren with no grass, likely to assist stroke play in the early stages. With dimensions of 69m, 67m, and 79m, boundaries aren’t hard to come by. As Deep Dasgupta noted, more than 200 runs have been scored in each innings at this venue last season, though the red soil surface tends to slow down as the ball gets older.
SRH, known for their fearless hitting, proved their mettle last week with Ishan Kishan’s brutal century powering them to a record total. With Head, Abhishek, Reddy, Klaasen, and others in blazing form, it’s a stiff challenge for an inexperienced LSG bowling unit—barring a couple of frontline options, most of their attack lacks IPL big-match exposure.
Still, with Rishabh Pant’s confident mindset and a capable batting lineup, LSG fans will hope for a high-octane chase, possibly even in the 240–250 run range if SRH fire once again. The match promises runs, sixes, and pressure galore—Hyderabad is set for another thriller.
