Top 5 players to watch out for in the LSG vs CSK IPL 2025 match

If there is any team in need of a quick and significant turnaround in the ongoing IPL season, it's Chennai Super Kings. The Yellow Army looks less like the team that has five IPL trophies to its name and more like a group of rookies. IPL 2025 has marked the first instance of CSK enduring five straight defeats in a season. The consequence of this string of defeats, CSK falling to the bottom of the points table, is also an unfortunate first for the team. The major part of the league stage still remains to be played, and no team is out of the playoffs contention yet. Chennai, meanwhile, needs to come back on track quickly, a process that the side, now led by the seasoned MS Dhoni, would hope to kick off in the LSG vs CSK IPL 2025 match.

Key players to watch out for in the LSG vs CSK IPL 2025 match

Lucknow Super Giants have won three out of their five matches in IPL 2025 so far. While their new captain, Rishabh Pant, is still finding a way out of his batting slump, LSG has found their match-winner in Nicholas Pooran. Playing at home, LSG finds itself as a favorite for the win in the upcoming match-up against CSK. The five-time champions have managed to win only one contest against LSG in five matches. The only win came when MS Dhoni was still the side's captain before passing the baton to Ruturaj Gaikwad. If not for a change in their form, LSG sits in an ideal position to exploit CSK's slump in the season.

Nicholas Pooran

A picture of consistency, a blazing picture of modern T20 hitting, and it's just the picture of Nicholas Pooran in IPL 2025. The No.3 for LSG, Pooran is rarely letting the focus shift from the fact that their skipper Rishabh Pant is failing to score. The match-winner is solely handling the run-scoring for the team. Pooran, this season, boasts an average of 5.6 sixes in a single match, the most by any batter so far. With a special liking to punish spin bowling, Pooran is slated to go big against the spin-reliant group of CSK. So far, Pooran, with 349 runs in 6 matches at an average of 69.80 and a strike rate of 215.43, is the highest run-scorer in IPL 2025.

Shardul Thakur

The former CSK pick now fires from the LSG camp. An injury replacement for Mohsin Khan, Shardul has arrived as just the blessing that the hampered bowling lineup of Lucknow Super Giants needed. The seam all-rounder has scalped 11 wickets across 6 matches, the second-highest in IPL 2025 so far. With CSK already struggling with the bat, Shardul, in his present form, holds all the power to rattle his ex-team in the LSG vs CSK match.

Aiden Markram

Markram would find himself flowing under the radar, behind the onslaught of Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh for LSG. However, the opener has marked a swift improvement in his turn-up for his new team in the league. In the last fixture, the LSG vs GT match, which Marsh missed, Markram set the perfect tone for the batting innings with a 58 off 31 in the chase. Overall, the Lucknow Super Giants opener has smashed 202 runs across 6 innings at a strike rate past the 150 mark.

Khaleel Ahmed

As the whole of CSK's batting order goes through a collective batting slump, the former champions would hope for the bowlers to provide a breakthrough. It would not be a new responsibility for the CSK bowlers, who have tried their best to overturn things for their team. In a season where CSK is picking defeats after defeats, Khaleel Ahmed and Noor Ahmad have done a tremendous job, emerging as the top wicket-takers in the league. In 6 matches, Khaleel Ahmed has picked 10 wickets, proving a silver lining for CSK in their IPL 2025 campaign so far.

Noor Ahmad

The purple cap holder in the season, CSK has aced a hero of their otherwise dull campaign in the season. The spinner has picked 12 wickets across 6 matches, with his four-fer on CSK debut headlining their victory against Mumbai Indians in the campaign opener. Interestingly, Ahmad boasts an upper hand over the LSG hard-hitter, Nicholas Pooran, in T20s. While a competent batter against spin, Pooran has fallen to Noor twice in just three innings. While in a new IPL jersey this season, Noor would hope to emulate his past performances against Pooran to provide a crucial breakthrough to Chennai Super Kings in the tough match-up.