Our Bureau
Dharamshala
Punjab Kings (PBKS) have registered yet another victory in the ongoing IPL 2025 while playing against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. With a total score of 236 for five, PBKS beat LSG by 37-runs, restricting them to 199 for 7 in 20 overs.
The biggest disappointment of the match was LSG captain Rishabh Pant who failed to resurrect his team post their top-order losses very early in the game.
After Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran were bowled out, the onus was on Pant, Ayush Badoni, and other middle-order batters to get the team back in the game to chase an imposing score of 237. But, LSG could only reach 199/7, despite Badoni’s 40-ball 74.
Sharing his feedback about the LSG captain on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out, Former Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians batter Ambati Rayudu gave an honest opinion. “I think he’s being pretty stubborn about how he wants to go about things. It’s not working in his favour at the moment.”
“I just hope that he takes this learning and improves on it and doesn’t become even more stubborn, but just accepts the fact that he is struggling and starts doing things a little differently, and try and get better every day. That’s all you can do,” Rayudu added.
For the unversed, Pant has played all across the middle-order for LSG but failed to deliver in any. Rayudu opines that opening remains his best position in white-ball formats as Pant doesn’t even have the required skills for a middle-order batter.
“I know he loves playing in the middle, but he doesn’t have the batsmanship that is required or the skill set. Maybe he has the skillset, but not the mindset to execute that.”
“That shows that mentally he is not very relaxed and very calm. At the moment, the word that I would use is he lacks confidence,” he concluded.
The LSG team owner, Sanjiv Goenka wasn’t pleased with Pant either and had a face of utter dismay after his early dismissal in the match. The wicket-keeper batter was bought by Goenka for a record fee of INR 27 crore in the mega auction last year.
Talking about the team’s performance in the post-match ceremony, Pant blamed the team’s poor fielding as the reason behind the defeat.
“Definitely too many runs. When you’re gonna drop crucial catches at the wrong time, it is going to hurt you badly. We thought it was going to do more. We didn’t pick the length right at the start. That’s part and parcel of the game. The dream is still alive. If we’re gonna win the next three matches, we definitely can turn it around.”
The massive victory has now placed PBKS on the second spot on the IPL points table, while LSG have dropped down to the seventh spot.
It is important to note that Lucknow Super Giants started strong and won four of their first six matches. However, they lost momentum, winning just one of their next four games. LSG must win three of their remaining four matches to stay in contention.