Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rishabh Pant expressed satisfaction with his team’s spirited performance against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Despite being out of contention for the playoffs, Pant lauded his team’s display, which resulted in a 33-run victory.
“Definitely happy. We have shown as a team that we can play good cricket. There was a time in the tournament we had the chance to qualify. But that’s part and parcel of the game. We need to learn and get better. Always a question of getting the top three, but the way Shahrukh batted it definitely gives hope down the order as well. There was injury concerns coming into the tournament. The way Mitch, Markram, and Pooran batted and the whole batting unit in fact. Fielding, we made lapses. Learn from it and move forward,” Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation.
LSG bowlers William O’Rourke and Akash Singh Maharaj spearheaded the team’s dominant bowling performance, helping them clinch the win over table-toppers GT. O’Rourke took 3/27, while Avesh Khan and Ayush Badoni supported well with two wickets each.
Although Pant hasn’t had a strong IPL season with the bat—scoring just 135 runs in 12 matches at an average of 12.27—he gave a glimpse of his power-hitting form in the match, smashing two sixes off Kagiso Rabada to score 16 runs off just 6 deliveries. His season-best, 63 off 49 balls, came against Chennai Super Kings earlier in the tournament.
GT remains at the top of the points table with 18 points (9 wins and 4 defeats from 13 matches), while LSG stands sixth with 12 points from 13 matches (6 wins and 7 defeats).
Pant praised individual performances, especially that of Shahrukh Khan, whose aggressive fifty provided hope for strengthening the lower middle order. He also acknowledged the resilience of key batters like Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran, despite early injury concerns in the squad.
While reflecting on fielding lapses, Pant remained optimistic, emphasizing the need to learn from mistakes and move forward as a unit.