Lucknow Super Giants will be happy to hit the road when they take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday in Match 23 of IPL 2026. With two wins away and two losses at home, Lucknow haven’t had a great run. They have suffered on the slow pitches of Lucknow. In Bengaluru, the likes of Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni and an out-of-form Nicholas Pooran will relish in the RCB vs LSG clash.
Their pacers have done an excellent job, even though Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav have been benched due to injury concerns. George Linde wasn’t impressive on his debut, but given time, he can do well. In short, Lucknow have a settled Playing XI but it’s not suited for the slow pitches of Lucknow.
Can LSG batters find consistency?
Royal Challengers Bengaluru had better luck away from home last season, and they won all their away games in the league stage. RCB went on to win the IPL, despite not doing well at home. Lucknow need to replicate that formula. Win at least 6 out of 7 away games, pick up points at home in 2 out of 7 games. If they can do that, the IPL 2026 playoffs will be within their reach.
Lucknow have the squad and players to do well on batting-friendly pitches. Both matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium have produced over 200 runs in each innings, and that will help LSG as well. However, LSG batters need consistency.
Markram has scores of 11, 45, 22 and 30. Marsh has struggled with scores of 35, 14, 15 and 11. Pant has managed 7, 68, 10 and 18. Pooran is also out of form with scores of 8, 1, 13 and 19. Badoni has scored 0, 12, 54 and 9. With that fragile batting, LSG’s struggles are only natural. That none of their batters is in the Top 25 of the Orange Cap race tells you how desperately LSG need a comeback. To make things worse, Josh Inglis is still not available, and they don’t have batters on the bench to fall on. But as has been the case many a time, the M Chinnaswamy pitch might just do the trick for out-of-form or struggling batters. At least, that’s what they will bank on in the RCB vs LSG game.
Sorted bowling but…
The bowling department looks sorted with Mohammed Shami leading the pace attack with Avesh Khan and Prince Yadav. Shami has picked up 4 wickets in as many games with an economy rate of just 6.25. Prince has also been impressive with 6 wickets.
On a batting paradise like M Chinnaswamy Stadium, they could use someone like Mohsin Khan. The left-arm pacer returned after over a year-long break due to injuries. He did well to pick up a wicket for just 4.75 economy. But then, he was benched. LSG have not clarified if Mohsin has picked up an injury again or if there is any fitness concern.
Mayank Yadav has been on the bench after playing in the intra-squad matches. He lacked pace and leaked runs. There could be an ongoing fitness issue with the young pacer. SRH director Tom Moody has confirmed that both pacers are “fully fit”. Then why are they not playing? That’s a big question mark.
As for spinners, George Linde did not have an impressive start after replacing Wanindu Hasaranga. Digvesh Rathi has been impressive with three wickets in as many games, but one would not bank on spinners on the Chinnaswamy pitch.
Predicted LSG Playing 11 vs RCB
Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary/George Linde, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav
Impact Player Options: George Linde (Bowling), Mukul Choudhary (Batting)
Lucknow Super Giants Squad
Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mayank Yadav, Himmat Singh, Anrich Nortje, Mohsin Khan, Arjun Tendulkar, Akash Maharaj Singh, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Arshin Kulkarni, Naman Tiwari, George Linde, Josh Inglis (Yet to join)
