Lucknow Super Giants struggled with their bowling depth in the previous edition, resulting in them making several adjustments to strengthen their bowling attack. He brought in players like Mohammed Shami and Anrich Nortje with the aim of strengthening the attack.
This season, their bowling has been promising on most occasions, with Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav performing well among the fast bowlers; However, his spin has struggled somewhat. But LSG’s biggest concern is the lack of runs from their batsmen, who were in excellent form last season.
The Rishabh Pant-led side has seen a disappointing decline in Nicholas Pooran’s form, despite the left-hander being their most experienced and most explosive batsman. He missed another chance against Punjab Kings, when LSG was chasing a mammoth target of 255 runs.
Lucknow Super Giants’ dangerous batsman Nicholas Pooran has failed to perform well this season and may be dropped from the playing eleven as his poor form continues in this edition of the IPL. Here are three players who can replace the experienced batsman in the LSG XI.
Three LSG players who can replace Nicholas Pooran in the playing eleven:
Himmat Singh
Lucknow Super Giants have made some promising selections from the Indian domestic units, Himmat Singh is one of those selections. He was first brought to the IPL by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2019, and then LSG bought him in the IPL 2025 mega-auction.
Himmat Singh has not been able to make an impact in the IPL yet, as despite playing three games from the bench last season, he has not faced a single ball. The left-handed batsman missed most of the domestic season for Delhi in 2025, but his record in T20 cricket has been excellent. He has scored 967 runs for Delhi in T20 at a strike rate of 133.56.
Josh English
Australian wicket-keeper batsman Josh Inglis is often regarded as one of the best players of 20-over cricket among modern cricketers. He made his IPL debut with Punjab Kings last season, when the Ricky Ponting-led side bought him for Rs 2.60 crore.
He played a promising season, scoring 278 runs in just 11 matches and bowling 30 at an average of 162.57. He was released by PBKS due to his unavailability in the early part of the competition, but the Super Giants acquired him for Rs 8.60 crore.
Iglis is a consistent and promising option in the middle order, and will make Nicholas Pooran’s comeback a tough task if he goes for the Super Giants after returning to the IPL.
Matthew Britzke
Nicholas Pooran has batted at various positions in the batting order but has failed to perform well this season. South African right-handed middle-order batsman Matthew Bretzke could be one of the possible batsmen to replace Nicholas Pooran.
Although he played just one game in the IPL for the Super Giants in 2025, Britzke has a promising record in white-ball cricket for the Proteas. He has scored over 3500 runs in over 140+ games in the global T20 circuit. Unless Josh Inglis joins the LSG camp, Britzke could be Nicholas Pooran’s immediate replacement.
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