Lucknow Super Giants: Best pace attack out of IPL 2026 playoffs race, what went wrong? ...Middle East

When a team becomes the first one to be knocked out of the tournament, you just know, that perhaps nothing went right for them in the season. LSG, coming into IPL 2026, had a very decent squad — one that should have been a contender for the playoffs, but instead, after 11 matches, they are fighting the battle for the wooden spoon – have three wins under their belt only.

Recently, director of cricket, Tom Moody opened up on a few factors — and it, in a way, threw light on their poor preparation, planning and execution. How can a team, possessing the likes of Mitch Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran fail? But the results are in front of us, and so are the reasons for failures.

But then, before we dive into what didn’t work, let us talk about, what only worked? The Indian pacers from this team have been brilliant, and it is a shame, that LSG are knocked out. Many claim that Prince Yadav could soon don India colours — and has picked up 16 wickets in 11 matches so far. Mohsin Khan, brilliant with 10 wickets in 5, Mohammed Shami 9 wickets in 11. Together, they form a pace battery, which could perhaps be called the best in IPL this year. Moving on….

The pre-season Wanindu Hasaranga loss

For a few weeks, all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, it was widely reported, would join the team after clearing the fitness tests in Sri Lanka. But on April 9, he was ruled out due to a hamstring issue, which just could not heal. The man was supposed to be the leader of the spin attack; the loss was massive as he has 340 wickets in 243 T20 games, where his economy is 7.00. In IPL too, he has 47 wickets in 36 games.

On his absence, Moody had told CricInfo, “Hasaranga is more of a significant miss for us because he was a really important key to the puzzle of how we were trying to stack up as a side, having that point of difference with a mystery-type spinner that’s got a great international record, a lot to prove in this tournament as well. And he just offers that little bit of depth and security at number 8, in someone that’s more than capable of playing a role there. We’ve been battling with that balance ever since, and what hasn’t helped is obviously our top order and our batting hasn’t fired, so we’re exposed down the back end of the innings.”

No home advantage

The reason why a team has a base, a home ground is, so that they have some advantage over the other team when they play at that venue. BUT till now, LSG has lost four matches at home out of five played. The poor record is not just restricted to this season, but LSG batters somehow find it extremely difficult to score runs on this wicket. And hence the poor record. In 27 matches, they have only won 10 at home.

Let’s just say poor captaincy by Rishabh Pant

The burden of 27 Cr is very visible on Pant, and the way he is leading the side. Forget his batting, the decision-making for the team has been very questionable.

Ever-changing opening pair For a match, Pant opened himself. Then he moved down to no.3. That trend continued for a few matches, and then suddenly, Ayush Badoni went to the opening slot, while Markram went to No.5. That Badoni ploy was given up after two matches, Markram came to the top again, only to be removed again. The next two matches saw Arshin Kulkarni and Josh Inglis open with Mitchell Marsh.

Too much chopping & changing: The changes weren’t just restricted to batting. Bowling, despite being good, saw changes constantly. Shahbaz Ahmed played first game, and then was forgotten for a long time. M Siddharth was tried in between, but was forgotten soon. Similar was the case with George Linde. Mohsin Khan hasn’t been in the team for the last few matches (one doesn’t know if he is injured), and Mayank Yadav, despite being fully bit, has only warmed the bench.

The Super Over blunder: How do you explain this brain fade moment. In a KKR match in Lucknow, they somehow managed to tie score at 155. For the super over, Pant went ahead and sent Nicholas Pooran against Sunil Narine; The southpaw batter was undergoing poor form, and his record against Narine was poor. As a result, only one run was scored in super over.

The Nicky P story

At 184 runs in 11 matches, at an average of 16 and a strike-rate of 124; these are the vastly improved numbers of Nicholas Pooran this year. At one stage, he returned with scores of 1, 13, 19, 1, 9, 22, 9, and the collective strike rate was under 100. Moody tried to offer an explanation for this: “Nicky P came into the tournament with a sore wrist that needed some sort of management in the first week or two,” he said. “Generally around the world in T20 cricket, Nicky P bats anywhere from [Nos.] 3 to 5 and he’s been effective in all those roles. So I think for him, his season started slowly [was] more to do with his preparation and also the fact that he had a bit of a wrist injury. So we’ve managed that, he’s fine now.”

But from 524 runs last year, this was a big step down. And, if he lacked perp, or wasn’t fully fit, why wasn’t any other played tried in the XI, instead of Nicholas Pooran?

Pant’s own misery

Rishabh has scored only one fifty in 11 games. Mere 251 runs at a strike-rate of 138 — again improved numbers — are not helping the team by any means. Even on good batting wickets he is unable to perform, and there is always a pressure of the strike rate in IPL. The top order isn’t suiting him, even the middle. Maybe, the best idea would be to see himself as a finisher, at least this year.

Except for Marsh, 377 runs this year, it has been a complete failure of the department. Markram has scored 231 runs in 11 matches at an average of 25 and SR of 138. Badoni has 172 runs at an average of 21. Mukul Choudhary has 156.

Too many cooks spoiling the broth

That is just some of the biggest names in coaching, right there. And of course, there must be an overflow of information and ideas, that is cluttering the minds of the players. It is reflecting in the performance of the players/team as well. They maybe need to take a cue from PBKS, where Ricky Ponting is the go to man for everything.

Lucknow Super Giants: Best pace attack out of IPL 2026 playoffs race, what went wrong? Inside Sport India.

Hence then, the article about lucknow super giants best pace attack out of ipl 2026 playoffs race what went wrong was published today ( Tuesday 12/05/2026 - 07:39 PM ) and is available on Inside sport ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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