Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant wasn't able to bring an end to his poor run of form with the bat, falling for yet another underwhelming score in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. After the trio of Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran fell early, the onus was on Pant, Ayush Badoni, and other middle-order batters to resurrect the team's position in the chase of 237 runs against Punjab. But, LSG could only reach 199/7, despite Badoni's 40-ball 74. Once again this season, Lucknow were let down by their captain, Pant, when they needed him the most, and owner Sanjiv Goenka's reaction summed up the feeling in the dugout.
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A fighting half-century by Ayush Badoni and his 81-run stand with Abdul Samad was the only highlight as LSG suffered a 37-run loss to PBKS after a top-order failure at the HPCA stadium in Dharmasala. Had skipper Pant shown more patience in the middle, things could've ended differently for the Super Giants.
Sanjiv Goenka, who has developed a reputation as a hard taskmaster after multiple on-field confrontations with his captains, was understandably not pleased to see Pant depart early. The wicket-keeper batter was bought by Goenka for a record fee of INR 27 crore in the mega auction last year. So far, it's fair to say, the money's worth hasn't been received.
After the game, 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.
"It makes sense when your top order is batting really well. In every match, you can't hope they will come off nicely. It's part of the game. We need to take the game deep. Every time, they can't do the heavy job for us. Like you said in the first, we had too many to chase. That hurt us badly," Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Thanks to the win, Punjab Kings have gone second in the points table, while Lucknow Super Giants have dropped down to the 7th spot.