Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are heading into IPL 2026 with a strong squad on paper, but they still have some clear weaknesses that can stop them from lifting their first IPL trophy. The Rishabh Pant-led side finished seventh in IPL 2025 with only 6 wins in 14 matches, and even after a busy mini-auction, a few problem areas remain.
In their first two seasons, LSG made it to the playoffs, but IPL 2025 turned into a big setback as they slipped to seventh in the points table. Injuries to key fast bowlers and poor form from some important players hurt them across the tournament.
Rishabh Pant joined the franchise as the costliest player in IPL history after LSG bought him for 27 crore, and he now leads the side into IPL 2026 with huge responsibility on his shoulders. The management tried to fix gaps by releasing underperforming names and bringing in fresh options. They let go of experienced finishers like David Miller and also moved on from leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, while trading in senior India pacer Mohammed Shami and left-armer Arjun Tendulkar to boost their bowling unit.
At the IPL 2026 auction, LSG focused mainly on bowling and wicketkeeping depth. They signed Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, South African quick Anrich Nortje, young Indian pacer Naman Tiwari, and bowling all-rounder Akshat Raghuwanshi, along with wicketkeeper-batters Mukul Choudhary and Australia’s Josh Inglis. With these moves, the Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 squad looks deeper and more flexible, but the team still carries some soft spots.
LSG IPL 2026 squad at a glance
As per the latest updates from official and media sources, the LSG IPL 2026 squad is built around a strong core.
- Batters: Rishabh Pant (C), Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran
- All-rounders: Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahamad, Arshin Kulkarni, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ayush Badoni
- Bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, M Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar, Anrich Nortje, Naman Tiwari, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan
This Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 squad gives them multiple batting options, a long list of pacers, and an all-rounder group that can change roles based on conditions. But when the squad is studied closely, three main weaknesses stand out very clearly.
Weakness 1: Limited spin depth in LSG squad
The first big weakness for the Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 team is their limited spin depth. LSG did well to bring in Wanindu Hasaranga at the auction for 2 crore, as he is one of the best T20 spinners in the world and can also score quick runs down the order. On many Indian pitches, Hasaranga will be their most important bowler in the middle overs.
However, beyond Hasaranga, the spin department looks thin. The franchise released Ravi Bishnoi, who had been their main Indian spinner and a regular wicket-taker in earlier seasons. Without Bishnoi, there is no Indian spinner in the squad with long international experience or a big IPL record.
LSG do have left-arm spinner M Siddharth and young spinner Digvesh Rathi. Siddharth offers variety with his angle, while Rathi impressed in IPL 2025 with a breakthrough season. But both are still at an early stage of their careers and do not yet have the same proven impact as top spinners in rival teams. On turning pitches, this lack of an experienced backup to Hasaranga can become a serious issue.
Another concern is Hasaranga’s fitness. In recent years, he has missed several games for Sri Lanka and in franchise leagues due to injuries, which means workload management will be very important. If he is forced to sit out even a few matches, the LSG spin attack will have to depend on Siddharth, Rathi, Shahbaz Ahamad, or part-time options, and that may not be enough against strong batting line-ups.
When compared to other IPL 2026 squads that can field two top-level international spinners together, the Lucknow Super Giants spin group looks light once Hasaranga is removed from the picture.
Weakness 2: Injury-prone pace attack
On paper, the LSG pace attack for IPL 2026 is one of the best. They have Mohammed Shami, who brings new-ball skill and experience, express pacers like Mayank Yadav and Anrich Nortje, and left-arm seamers Mohsin Khan and Arjun Tendulkar to add variety. Along with them, Avesh Khan, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav and young Naman Tiwari give extra depth and options across phases of the innings.
But the big issue here is fitness and availability. In IPL 2025, Lucknow’s season was badly affected by injuries to their fast bowlers, and they regularly had to play without their first-choice attack. Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, and Mayank Yadav all missed large parts of the tournament, which meant LSG often relied on less experienced seamers and could not control the powerplay or the death overs as well as they wanted.
That pattern has still not fully gone away. Mayank Yadav, known for his extreme pace, has already had a history of injuries early in his career. Mohsin Khan has also had long spells away from the game because of fitness concerns, while Avesh has faced his own share of niggles and form dips.
Now the team has added Anrich Nortje and Mohammed Shami. Both are world-class bowlers, but they too come with fitness questions. Shami underwent ankle surgery after the 2023 ODI World Cup and has missed a lot of T20 cricket since then. Nortje has also fought recurring injuries in international cricket over the last few years. So even though the list of names in the LSG IPL 2026 pace unit looks very strong, many of them fall into the injury-prone category.
Because of this, the Lucknow Super Giants bowling attack can look completely different if even one or two pacers are unavailable at the same time. The team could be forced to throw young uncapped bowlers into tough roles, or change their death-bowling plans at short notice. Over a long league season, this lack of reliable fitness across the pace attack is a clear weakness for LSG.
Weakness 3: Tough choice of four overseas players
The third major weakness for the Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 squad is the problem of choosing only four overseas players in the playing XI. LSG have invested in many foreign stars, but the rules allow only four to play in each match, which makes team selection very tricky.
In batting, the main overseas options are Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Josh Inglis and Matthew Breetzke. Markram and Marsh are strong top-order choices who can also bowl a few overs, while Pooran is a powerful middle-order batter and a wicketkeeper. In most LSG playing XI plans, these three are seen as almost automatic picks.
Once Markram, Marsh and Pooran are locked in, only one overseas slot is left. That final place has to go either to an overseas bowler like Wanindu Hasaranga or Anrich Nortje or to an extra batter-wicketkeeper like Josh Inglis. Inglis, who was signed for a huge fee of 8.6 crore, offers attacking middle-order batting and backup keeping, but reports suggest he may not be available for every game due to personal commitments. This reduces LSG’s flexibility even more.
The biggest headache lies in the choice between Hasaranga and Nortje. If LSG play Hasaranga, they strengthen their spin attack and add depth to the batting at number seven, but they then have to rely on an all-Indian pace attack for most games. If they pick Nortje instead, they get extra pace and a strike bowler who can change matches with the new ball and at the death, but their spin department suddenly looks very light.
This overseas combination problem is closely linked to the first two weaknesses. Limited spin depth means leaving out Hasaranga can be costly on slow, turning pitches. At the same time, the injury-prone pace group means that if one or two Indian pacers are unavailable, LSG might feel forced to play Nortje just to keep the pace attack strong.
So in many matches, the Lucknow Super Giants will have to choose between a better spin attack or a safer pace attack when deciding their overseas four. This constant trade-off around makes their squad slightly unstable compared to some other teams that have a clearer first-choice four.
The post IPL 2026: 3 Weaknesses That Could Hurt Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) appeared first on Sportzcraazy.
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