IPL 2025: Punjab Kings hammer Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets

Punjab Kings defeated Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets at the Ekana Stadium. The new-look Punjab side has been phenomenal, to say the least, playing an aggressive brand of cricket and now won back-to-back games to kickoff the IPL 2025. Local Punjab boys were sensational on the night as the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh and Nehal Wadhera stole the show in Lucknow.

The captain Shreyas Iyer wasn’t behind as well. He smacked an unbeaten 97 runs in the opening game against Gujarat Titans and in the second he smacked 52* and finished the match with a massive six. With the captain being in such form, the team will be motivated for the time to come. Multiple players have stepped up from time to time and that's a massive positive for the team, who are second on the points table. 

Notably, Iyer won the toss and decided to



field first. Arshdeep and Lockie Ferguson gave early breakthroughs and kept the hosts in check. Mitchell Marsh, who was in stellar form departed for a golden duck and soon after that, Markram departed for 28. Pant too got out after scoring only 2. After that, in-form Pooran and Ayush Badoni rescued the innings, scoring 44 and 41 runs respectively. Later, Abdul Samad played an important cameo of 27 runs as LSG posted 171 runs in the first innings.

Prabhsimran started the chase with a cluster of boundaries. Despite losing his opening partner Priyansh Arya early, he didn’t compromise on his strike rate as the youngster made 69 runs off just 34 deliveries. Iyer supported him well in the middle and completed his half-century in the final delivery of the match. In the meantime, impact substitute Nehal Wadhera played a splendid knock of 43 runs off just 23 balls.