Lucknow, May 19 (IANS) Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants in a crucial match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Monday.

With Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru securing their playoff spots after Sunday’s double-header, Lucknow are in a must-win situation as they are in a tight race for the final qualification spot with Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals.

Sunrisers are out of contention, and Cummins admitted that they haven’t played to their potential.

“We want to know what we are chasing. Never know what the wicket will do. We haven’t played to our potential and want to reach that. A few injuries give a few chances to the new guys. We have some unfinished business. The team has been great, but we haven’t fired. (Travis) Head is in his hotel room. (Jaydev) Unadkat is on a personal reason. (Atharva) Taide and Harsh Dubey come in,” he said at the toss.

LSG captain Rishabh Pant said he didn’t mind whether they bat first or bowl.

“We want to play one match at a time and give our 100%. No unwanted pressure, it is always there. The team has regrouped really well, and they are in a good headspace. Will O’Rourke is making his IPL debut,” said Pant.

Playing XIs:

Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi, Digvesh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Will O’Rourke

Impact substitutes: Shardul Thakur, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, M Siddharth, David Miller

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Pat Cummins (capt), Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga

Impact substitutes: Mohammad Shami, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh.

–IANS

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