The southpaw was dismissed on a two-ball duck.
Rishabh Pant, the newly appointed skipper of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), was seen having an animated conversation with the team mentor Zaheer Khan during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against the Delhi Capitals (DC). While on air, the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Suresh Raina opined that he must be complaining about walking out late in the innings.
“20 overs are left. You have to keep wickets and captain the side. You have to make your side win. He is discussing that with Zaheer Khan. ‘I told you, send me in’,” he said while commentating on the match.
Notably, LSG lost their second wicket in the 12th over when Mitchell Starc hit the stumps of Nicholas Pooran for just five runs in nine balls. It was expected that Pant would take the score of 99/2 to a formidable total. However, LSG management sent Abdul Samad instead of Pant.
The move was surprising as it doesn’t support the right-hand-left-hand combination theory either. In an even more surprising move, LSG continued to sit Pant in the dugout, waiting for his chance. The southpaw was padded up for a long time, but they chose to delay him a bit more.
The Super Giants also sent David Miller and youngster Ayush Badoni before their captain. The Lucknow skipper was seen to argue with Zaheer during the penultimate over of their innings.
The LSG skipper came in at the last over of the innings and faced just two balls. He was bowled by Mukesh Kumar in the last ball while trying to play a reverse lap.
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However, he didn’t complain about his batting position and explained that LSG wanted to capitalise in the middle overs. But, he also emphasised how they were controlled by the DC bowlers to play big shots. The 27-year-old also mentioned the areas where the team will look to improve in the upcoming matches.
“The idea was to capitalise. We sent Samad to capitalise on a wicket like that. After that, Miller came in and we just really got stuck in the wicket. Eventually, these are the things we’ve got to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward,” Pant stated after the match.
The tactics to send Samad, Miller, and Badoni by delaying Pant didn’t prove to be effective for LSG. They managed a sub-par score of 159/6 in 20 overs.
On the other hand, DC chased the target with ease despite the early dismissal of Karun Nair. The youngster Abhishek Porel contributed with a 36-ball-51 knock before a 55-run partnership between KL Rahul and captain Axar Patel took DC over the line.
With six wins in eight matches in the IPL 2025 so far, DC are currently positioned second in the points table. They need at least two wins out of their remaining seven games to qualify for the playoffs. For their next fixture, they will go head-to-head with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 27.
On the other hand, LSG are positioned fifth on the points table with five wins out of their nine games. They also need at least three more wins to stay in contention for the playoffs. Their next fixture is also on April 27, a day game at the Wankhede Stadium with the hosts, Mumbai Indians.
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