Rishabh Pant won the toss in Lucknow and, almost straight away, pointed at the square. “Tacky,” he said, choosing to bowl first because the surface still held a bit of moisture. Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad spotted the same thing, noting the red-soil pitch “might do a little early on”, but was happy enough to bat.
Key changes up front
Jamie Overton’s season-ending injury forced CSK into two switches. The headline one is a first Super Kings outing for Australian left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, back in work after the back issue that kept him out of competitive cricket since the 2025 IPL. Gurjapneet Singh, another left-arm seamer, waits on the bench and, in Gaikwad’s words, “Gurjapneet will be our Impact Sub.” That put paid to any late thoughts of an Akeal Hosein recall.
Prashant Veer was the Impact Player when these sides met in Chennai; this evening he starts in the XI – handy, given the ground is also his domestic home.
Play-off maths is simple for CSK: win and they wake up inside the top four.
LSG look to 2027
Lucknow Super Giants are already out of the running, so Pant and the coaching group are using the final fixtures to test for next year. Left-armer Akash Singh, once on CSK’s books, gets a first game of the season. Middle-order pair Abdul Samad and Mukul Choudhary also return. Himmat Singh, Akshat Raghuwanshi and the rested Avesh Khan drop out, while 150kph quick Mayank Yadav collects only his third appearance.
Josh Inglis does not start but is pencilled in as Lucknow’s Impact option once a chase begins – hardly a secret given the way LSG have used him all season.
The teams at the toss
Chennai Super Kings (bat first)
Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Sanju Samson (wk), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary
Impact list: Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Sarfaraz Khan, Matthew Short, Matt Henry
Lucknow Super Giants (bowl first)
Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), Aiden Markram, Mukul Choudhary, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav
Impact list: Josh Inglis, M Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Ayush Badoni
A short spell for the analysts
Johnson adds left-arm angle and, when fit, high pace – CSK hope that offsets Overton’s absence at the death. Lucknow’s decision to omit Avesh shifts even more new-ball responsibility onto Shami; the upside is a longer look at Mayank, whose speed has excited coaches but whose body is still learning the weekly grind.
Conditions are expected to ease under lights, especially once the lacquer wears off, so Pant’s call to chase is no surprise. The harder question is whether LSG’s inexperienced middle order can stand up if the chase turns tricky.
Either way, the evening hands a glimpse of the future – Spencer Johnson in yellow, Mayank Yadav in blue – while the present still matters for CSK’s top-four push.
