Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) haven’t had the best of starts to their Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) campaign, with just two wins in six games. The Rishabh Pant-led side have now faced a further setback after their overseas pacer Anrich Nortje left the LSG camp midway through the season.
While no official confirmation of the same has been provided from the LSG management, it is understood that the Proteas speedster and his wife are expecting twins, and hence Nortje has travelled home.
After being picked up by LSG for INR 2 crores at the auction last December, he featured in just a solitary game this season and returned wicketless. The 32-year-old had previously plied his trade with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season after spending five seasons (2020-2024) with the Delhi Capitals (DC).
Notably, Nortje was the only overseas fast bowler in the Lucknow pace battery, which otherwise boasts of a strong pool of Indian quicks. That is precisely the reason that the South Africa hasn’t been used much and his absence won’t be a big bother for LSG, given the depth in the pace department.
They have a good balance of experience in the likes of Mohammed Shami and Avesh Khan with promising young names in the ranks likes Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Tiwari, and Akash Singh.
While Shami produced a record spell of 2/9 against SRH, Prince Yadav is currently third in the Purple Cap race with 11 wickets in six games.
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Speaking about LSG’s IPL 2026 playoffs chances, they seem extremely low currently. They are placed second last in the points table with four points from six games. With a tentative 18 points required to guarantee qualification and 16 points to stay in the hunt, the margin for error is extremely less. With eight more games remaining, LSG need to eke out wins in at least six of them to secure a playoffs berth after missing out in the last two seasons.
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