Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant believes that his team was 20 runs short during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against Delhi Capitals at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. DC defeated LSG by eight wickets to register their second win of the season against the Rishabh Pant-led franchise.
After LSG's eight-wicket loss, Pant, who was looking disappointed, said that the team bowling first will get advantage in Lucknow and that went in DC's favour as Axar Patel opted to bowl. Pant reckons that the pitch became better for when DC were chasing.
"We were 20 runs short, toss played a huge part, whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket .. we just couldn't get it away. It always happens in Lucknow, wicket becomes better in the second innings, that's how it goes, we can't make excuses but have to learn from it" said Rishabh Pant in post match conference.
Pant also provided an update on Mayank Yadav, who joined the franchise after recovering from his injuries. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper batter said that they want to give some time to the young pacer because he just came from the NCA.
"We are using Ayush as Impact Player to try and give Mayank some game time early in the season, trying to fit him in, since he's just come from NCA ... We sent someone to capitalise on. wicket like that, Miller came in, we got stuck on that wicket ... we need to figure out our best combination" added Pant
Coming back to the match, DC have inched towards the play-off qualification with an eight-wicket win against LSG. DC's bowling trio Mukesh Kumar (4/33), Mitchell Starc (1/25) and Dushmantha Chameera (1/25 in 3 overs) used slower deliveries smartly as LSG could only manage a below-par 159/6 after being 87/1 at the halfway mark.
While chasing, young opener Abhishek Porel (51 off 36) set the tone before KL Rahul (57 not out off 42) and Axar Patel (34 not out off 20) saw DC home with 13 balls to spare, sealing their sixth win in eight games.