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Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to field first against Rajasthan Royals at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow in Match 32 of IPL 2026 on Tuesday.

Rajasthan, who were at one point the dominant force of the early season with four consecutive wins, arrive in Lucknow having lost their last two games and looking to find their feet again. LSG on the other hand have lost three in a row and desperately need a win on home soil to keep their playoff hopes from fading any further.

LSG vs RR: Mayank Yadav gets his IPL 2026 debut

The headline team news from the LSG camp is the long-awaited season debut of Mayank Yadav, who comes in for Avesh Khan as one of two changes from the side that played their previous game. The young express quick, who famously clocked some of the highest speeds seen in IPL history during his debut season and became one of the most talked-about fast bowling talents in the country, has been managing his fitness carefully this season before being unleashed tonight.

He will partner Mohammed Shami in what is a genuinely exciting pace combination on a Lucknow surface that can offer something to the faster bowlers early on. Digvesh Rathi also comes in, replacing left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth, as LSG look for more variation in their attack. Rajasthan are unchanged.

LSG vs RR: What Rishabh Pant and Riyan Parag said at the toss

Pant was candid and thoughtful at the toss, explaining that LSG want to put the opposition under pressure when they bat first and that the team continues to figure out what works best for them in these conditions.

He addressed the Nicholas Pooran situation directly and without hesitation when asked, "A player who has shown so much potential, you want to trust him regardless of whatever he's doing", a statement of loyalty that will either age very well or become the defining selection controversy of LSG's season depending on how Pooran performs in the coming games.

Pooran has managed just 51 runs in six innings and currently has the lowest strike rate of any batter who has faced at least 50 balls this season, making Pant's continued faith in him the most discussed selection decision at the franchise.

Riyan Parag on the other side was refreshingly honest at the toss, admitting he was so confused about whether to bat or bowl that he actively tried to lose the coin flip.

LSG vs RR: Where both teams stand

Rajasthan's early season dominance has been disrupted by back-to-back defeats that have taken the shine off what was looking like a historically strong start. Their powerplay run rate of 12.1 remains the highest in the tournament this season but the miscalculations in the middle overs that Parag referenced at the toss have cost them in recent games.

LSG sit in a difficult position with three consecutive losses and the second-lowest powerplay scoring rate in the competition at 8.7 runs per over, a number that tells you exactly where their problems start. Getting through LSG's pace attack early and setting a platform is the key challenge for Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi at the top of the order tonight.

Also READ: IPL 2026: Rajasthan Royals and the mid-season collapse that has become their defining story

LSG vs RR Playing XIs

RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma, Nandre Burger.

LSG: Mitchell Marsh, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Mayank Yadav.

LSG vs RR Impact Players

Lucknow Super Giants Impact subs: Himmat Singh, George Linde, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Abdul Samad

Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Yash Raj Punja, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande