4 min readApr 27, 2026 07:00 AM IST
After being condemned to their fifth straight loss in IPL 2026, Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant has urged his team to take responsibility, saying the blame cannot be put on only “one or two guys.”
After losing to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Super Over, Pant said, “Just take accountability, each and every guy. It can’t be about one or two guys. It has to be about the whole unit, and a lot of people will take accountability for that for sure.”
LSG lacked the right attitude against KKR in the chase of 156 and let the game slip away after an impressive show with the ball at Ekana on Sunday. Mohammed Shami struck a six off the last ball to tie the game and force a Super Over, but the home team could only manage one run in the six-ball contest, allowing Rinku Singh to finish off the game as KKR won their second match of the season.
Pant said the team is in dire need of a break to refresh and reset in the high-pressure tournament. Languishing at the bottom of the points table, LSG have just two wins in eight games.
“See, I think we definitely need a break. We need to refresh. There is always pressure and it’s going to be a pressure game always, but at the same time, we have to look for answers inside, not outside,” he said.
Both Pant’s batting and his captaincy have come under the scanner this season. Having scored 189 runs in eight matches while averaging just 27 with only one half-century, Pant’s decision-making has also raised questions. He sent out-of-form Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over to face Sunil Narine, a battle skewed in the latter’s favour as Narine had bowled a maiden Super Over in the 2014 Caribbean Premier League, where Pooran played four dots before getting dismissed off the fifth delivery. Pooran was dismissed off the very first ball in the Super Over as LSG managed only a solitary run.
On sending Pooran to bat in the Super Over, Pant said, “We had a discussion as a group. The name that came up was Nicky P. He might not be going through the best form of his life, but at the same time, you have to trust your player in a hard situation like this. They are going to come off nicely. So no excuses there. I am looking at the positive. There might not be enough positives right now, but I think after the break, there will be a lot of positives for sure.”
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Pant also went to spinner Digvesh Rathi, giving him the 20th over of the first innings where a set Rinku Singh tormented him by hitting four consecutive sixes, scoring 26 off the final over and taking his team to a respectable total. When asked about his thoughts on giving Rathi the last over, Pant said, “There are always times in cricket where you can turn a little bit of bowling. But sometimes bowlers have to bowl those hard overs. There will be time when I have to give him that in the middle overs because I was looking for a wicket. I just didn’t get one. That was the thought process behind it. Too many minds don’t make it easy on the ground.”
