"There wasn't even 1 guy who is playing top-flight T20 cricket for India" - Aakash Chopra on what went wrong for LSG in IPL 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has attributed the Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) underwhelming run in IPL 2025 to their formula of playing with four overseas batters and an all-Indian bowling attack. He noted that they didn't have even a single bowler who has been playing T20I cricket regularly for India.

With 12 points from 14 games, LSG finished seventh on the IPL 2025 points table. Although they won five of their first eight games, they lost five of their last six matches to bow out of the playoff race.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener opined that LSG's reliance on a relatively unreliable all-Indian bowling attack contributed to their indifferent run in IPL 2025.

"The formula they had hasn't worked, and they will have to pivot away slightly from that formula. The formula was to have all overseas players in the batting order, and an entire made-in-India bowling attack," Chopra said (1:00).

"There wasn't even one guy who is playing top-flight T20 cricket for India and was in your team. If that had been the case, you would still feel that they would be able to manage. You made an entire made-in-India bowling attack, in which there wasn't even one reliable big name, and they had to pay for it," he added.

Chopra named the Indian bowlers among whom at least one should have been part of LSG's bowling attack.

"If you have an entire made-in-India bowling, you should have two or at least one of Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana. Someone should have been there," he observed.

With 14 scalps at an economy rate of 8.25 in 13 innings, Digvesh Rathi was LSG's highest wicket-taker in IPL 2025. Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur, who accounted for 13 dismissals apiece, were the franchise's only other bowlers to take more than 10 wickets this season.

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"The low-priced buys like Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram did an excellent job" - Aakash Chopra on LSG's positive in IPL 2025

Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram impressed at the top of the order for LSG in IPL 2025. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra picked the performance of some of the Lucknow Super Giants' low-priced players as their positive from IPL 2025.

"The excellent part of their auction was that the low-priced buys like Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram did an excellent job. Digvesh Rathi was the find of the season, and Ayush Badoni was a good retention," he said.

To conclude, the cricketer-turned-commentator opined that LSG need to bolster their overseas seam-bowling department and lower-middle-order batting in next season's auction.

"What do they need? They need a few overseas fast bowlers. They will need a lower-order batter. It can be an Indian. They will have to improve their bowling because they will be able to manage in batting. The top four will be able to manage. They will have to revamp and reboot their bowling attack," Chopra observed.

Shamar Joseph, who was the only overseas seamer in LSG's original IPL 2025 squad, didn't get to play a game this season. Will O'Rourke, who came in as a replacement for Mayank Yadav, picked up six wickets in three games, but conceded an average of 12.77 runs per over.