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Rishabh Pant lifts lid on shocking call to bat at No.7 after decision leaves Shane Watson 'gobsmacked': 'Idea was…'
IPL 2025, LSG vs DC: Rishabh Pant explained his decision to come out to bat at No.7 after Lucknow Super Giants faced a defeat at the Ekana.
Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant explained his decision to come down to bat at No.7 after his side stumbled to an eight-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 fixture at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The call of Pant batting lower down the order surprised everyone, and even former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson was gobsmacked.
The likes of Abdul Samad, David Miller and Ayush Badoni batted ahead of Rishabh Pant. The India wicketkeeper-batter was seen having his hand bandaged, leading to fans believing that there was an injury scare. Pant eventually faced just two balls in the innings as he walked back after being dismissed for a duck.
When Abdul Samad came at No.4 ahead of Rishabh Pant, Shane Watson, on commentary, said, "I am gobsmacked, bewildered and whatnot. Whatever word you want to use. I cannot make sense of why Rishabh Pant is not here batting."
After Delhi Capitals cruised to an eight-wicket win, Rishabh Pant was asked about his decision to come down to bat in the final over of the innings.
Answering this question, Pant replied, "The idea was to like capitalise, we sent someone to capitalise on wicket like that. After that, Miller came in, and we just really got stuck in the wicket, but eventually, you know, these are the things we got to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward."
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When will Mayank Yadav play?
For two matches in a row, Lucknow Super Giants have now listed pacer Mayank Yadav, but he has not been asked to come on and bowl. The speedster joined the franchise before the fixture against Rajasthan Royals after getting the clearance from the National Cricket Academy.
Rishabh Pant said that the decision to use Ayush Badoni as an impact sub was made to give Mayank some time, as he joined the team just last week.
"Definitely, that is one idea why we are impacting Ayush to get Mayank some game time, just trying to find ways to get him early in the season because it's already halfway around, and he came from NCA now, so just trying to fit him in," said Pant.
Speaking of the fixture between Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals, the latter won the toss and opted to bowl. LSG posted 159/6 in the allotted twenty overs as Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh scored 52 and 45, respectively.
Delhi Capitals chased down the target in the 18th over with eight wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.
"We knew we were like 20 runs short. Toss played a huge part because whosoever is bowling first, they get a lot of help from the wicket and like we just had to stay back, stay in the match for a longer period of time and we just couldn't get it away," said Pant.
"It always happens in Lucknow, in the second innings, the wickets become better and better to bat on, but that's how the game goes. You can't be complaining. Toss is playing a huge part here, but as a team, we are not looking for excuses, just looking to learn from it," he added.
