Rishabh Pant was dismissed for 3 against Rajasthan Royals© BCCI
Lucknow Super Giants registered a thrilling two-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2025 match on Saturday in Jaipur. Opting to bat first, LSG posted a total of 180/5 in 20 overs with Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni scoring 66 and 50 runs respectively. Later, RR put up a strong fight with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s knock of 74 but LSG managed to restrict them to 178/5 and won the match by two runs. This was LSG’s fifth win in eight matches while for RR, it was sixth loss is eight games.
Despite being on the winning side, skipper Rishabh Pant’s poor form remained a big concern for LSG. Pant was dismissed for 3 off 9 balls as he registered yet another low score in the ongoing season.
The wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga after he his attempt of playing a reverse sweep miserably failed.
Seeing this, former India batter Manoj Tiwary criticised Pant for his unnecessary shot selection and also echoed Sunil Gavaskar’s criticism of Pant.
“Rishabh Pant is that kind of player – he is brimming with talent. There is no need for him to go and play a reverse sweep right away, yet he does it. That’s why Sunil Gavaskar got upset during the Test match in the Border-Gavaskar series,” said Tiwary on Cricbuzz
Even he knows that Pant has so much ability that he can score runs with straight-bat cricket. So why doesn’t he do that? Why does he go for the unconventional?” he added.
Notably, Gavaskar had openly ranted against Pant after he played a poor shot during a Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia, which led to his dismissal.
“These kind of matches build character. It was an amazing win. As a team, this is going to take us to a different level. These kind of matches can build the character of players and team. These are the positive things we always talk about. Looking forward, I feel we are going to do better. All the credit to the bowlers holding their nerves at the right time,” said Pant after win against RR.
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