Former India player Aakash Chopra has added that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) do not want a bowler-friendly pitch at their home ground in IPL 2025 as well. He stated that the LSG’s overseas-heavy batting lineup is not at its best when the pitch helps bowlers. However, LSG will host the MI in Match 16 of IPL 2025 in Lucknow on Friday, April 4 as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “There was a lot of commotion about this Ekana pitch because there was a lot of help in this pitch. If we see the last match against Punjab, the ball was moving left and right, and was also stopping a little. It did not suit Lucknow’s plan because all their overseas players are batters,” Chopra said.

He again shared, “Batters need a slightly good pitch. All of them are strokemakers, and they didn’t like it. This team doesn’t want help. They think their bowling is so weak that they should make it a bat-vs-bat contest and win with planning with the ball because they might remain far behind skill-wise. So they want a road-like pitch.”

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“If they prepare such a pitch and have a bat-vs-bat contest, will the scales be genuinely tilted towards Lucknow? I am not 100% convinced because you might see a slight weakness in Mumbai’s bowling since Bumrah is not there as of now, but the batting is strong. I don’t feel Lucknow’s batting is far superior,” Chopra shared.

However, Aakash Chopra also urged the Lucknow Super Giants to play Prince Yadav ahead of M Siddharth against the Mumbai Indians.

“I feel they should play Prince Yadav. They brought in M Siddharth in the last match, but I feel Prince Yadav is a slightly better option. Shardul Thakur had two excellent matches but was ordinary in the last match. Avesh Khan blows hot, blows cold. I think Prince Yadav is a decent choice,” Aakash Chopra concluded.