4 min readChennaiMay 11, 2026 12:00 AM IST
Lucknow Super Giants‘ hopes of making the play-offs have been dashed, and their misfiring batting needs to take a lot of the blame. On a day they made 203 and still lost the game, it eventually boiled down to the 20 runs they failed to score on a flat pitch.
Having got off to a strong start thanks to Josh Inglis’ 85 off 33 deliveries, Lucknow were on course for a total close to 250. From 112/2 at the end of the ninth over, they found themselves at 154/6 by the end of the 15th.
As their middle order endured another collapse, captain Rishabh Pant’s performance through the season came under further scrutiny. Acquired for a record Rs 27 crore at the big auction ahead of the 2025 season, the wicketkeeper has managed only 251 runs in 11 outings to go with the 268 runs he tallied in 14 matches last year.
Coming in at No.4 on Sunday, Pant had an opportunity to take the game further away from CSK, but chopped on a hard-length delivery from Jamie Overton with a loose poke. Head down, he dragged himself off, as his white-ball career continued to nosedive.
Before the start of the season, when Lucknow were here for a pre-season camp, all eyes were on Pant and how he would redeem himself to have a shot at the wicketkeeper’s slot in India’s white-ball set-up. Instead, he continues to be all over the place with questions repeatedly cropping about the price tag and the expectation to deliver.
“That’s a question you need to ask him. I can’t speak for him on how he’s feeling about the expectation,” Tom Moody, LSG’s director of cricket, said. “Every player, particularly profile players – so whether it’s Rishabh Pant or anyone that’s either captain or a senior player in the side that has got decorated careers at that point – they’re under pressure and that’s the beauty of the IPL. It’s whether you can embrace that pressure and rise or you find it difficult to get traction.”
Position mismatch
Before the season, given his aggressive instincts, slotting in as an opener was seen as the ideal spot for Pant. In the first match, he came out at the top of the order, before slotting himself in the middle order again. Since then, he has batted mostly at No.3 this season and has just one fifty to show so far. Beyond that he has only two scores in the 40s, which has compounded Lucknow’s troubles. And Pant moving to No.3 meant Nicholas Pooran has to bat at 4 or 5, a position he hasn’t really warmed up to.
Story continues below this ad
Moody said Pant was the one eager to bat at No.3.
“Rishabh was keen to go 3 this year, so we afforded him that opportunity. First game, he opened. That was purely a match-up against Axar Patel. He was run out in an unfortunate fashion, so he missed that opportunity for that match-up. Nicky P came into the tournament with a sore wrist that needed some sort of management in the first week or two.
“Generally around the world in T20 cricket, Nicky P bats anywhere from 3-5 and he’s been effective in all those roles. His season started slowly, but that’s the nature when you’re playing that high-risk game,” the Aussie added.
Having chosen to strengthen their bowling at the mini-auction, Lucknow’s strength remained the power-packed batting unit. With Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Matthew Breetzke part of the mix and Josh Inglis joining in May, they had a formidable batting unit. Instead, none of them have managed to tally 400 runs this season with Marsh’s 377 being the highest.
Story continues below this ad
“If we look at our season from a broad lens, our batting has let us down, particularly our middle order hasn’t fired and shown the consistency that’s required to have that success on a consistent basis. Our bowling has been pretty good, but we haven’t managed to put that perfect game together,” Moody added.
