Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant shocked everyone when he came to open alongside Mitchell Marsh during team's Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener clash against Delhi Capitals. However, the wicketkeeper batter failed to make an impact as he managed to score seven runs before a fluke dismissal.
Rishabh Pant's dismissal
On the first ball of the fourth over, Pant was batting at the non-strikers' end when the incident happened. A straight drive from Mitchell Marsh made its way to the stumps at non-strikers' end while taking a glance at bowler Mukesh Kumar’s hand. With Pant slow to react at the non-strikers' end, he failed to keep his bat in the crease and was subsequently dismissed. The third umpire was called into action to confirm the dismissal, where Pant was clearly out of the crease.
ALSO READ: Sameer Rizvi’s unbeaten fifty guides Delhi Capitals to six-wicket win over LSG
Why Rishabh Pant featured as an opener?
After LSG's six-wicket defeat against DC, Pant explained that he opened because they wanted Nicholas Pooran to take charge in the middle overs
"The best way to recover is to ignore it (on his run-out). You can't control something like that, but thinking about it puts you under pressure. We didn't secure a partnership, so we had to use the option as an impact sub because we were a few runs short. The idea was simple he would take charge in the middle overs since I opened (on Pooran battng at 5). It's a 50-50 call (on opening for the rest of the tournament)" said Rishabh Pant in post-match presentation.
LSG vs DC match report
Sameer Rizvi played a superb unbeaten knock to guide Delhi Capitals to a comfortable six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL 2026 match.
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Rizvi walked in to bat when Delhi were in trouble at 21 for 2 in the fourth over. From that point, he took charge of the innings and paced his knock beautifully. He remained unbeaten on 70 off 47 balls, hitting five fours and four sixes, and made sure Delhi crossed the target of 142 with 17 balls still left.
Delhi Capitals finished the chase at 145 for 4 in 17.1 overs. Tristan Stubbs also played a key role, staying not out on 39 from 32 balls and building a solid partnership with Rizvi to take the team home.
Earlier, Delhi’s bowlers put in a strong performance to restrict Lucknow Super Giants to 141 in 18.4 overs. Fast bowlers Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan were the standout performers, picking up three wickets each and keeping the pressure on throughout.
For Lucknow, Abdul Samad was the top scorer with 36 runs off 25 balls, while Mitchell Marsh added 35 from 28 balls after the team was asked to bat first.
Among the bowlers, Natarajan finished with figures of 3 for 29, while Ngidi returned 3 for 27. Kuldeep Yadav also made an impact with two wickets.