New Delhi: Rishabh Pant’s life as skipper of Lucknow Super Giants began with a bump as they went down to Delhi Capitals by one wicket in their Indian Premier League 2025 opener in Visakhapatnam.
LSG set a target of 210 runs but Ashutosh Sharma’s unbeaten 66 off 31 balls and Vipraj Nigam’s 39 off 15 balls pulled Delhi to an improbable win on Monday.
At one point during their run chase, Delhi slumped to 113/6 but then Shamr aand Nigam’s clean hitting took them beyond the finishing line with three balls to spare.
The manner in which they let the match slip from a favourable position left Pant exasperated.
“I think our top-order batters played really well and I think it was a pretty good score on this wicket. We got early wickets, but we knew it was a good wicket to bat on.
“We had to keep doing the basics right more often. I think they had a couple of good partnerships,” the keeper-batter said after the match.
‘Lot of positives despite defeat’
Pant reminded that under him LSG have a new look and they would need time to settle down as a unit.
“I think he (Nigam) did a pretty good job and took the game away from us. There was enough for the bowlers, but I think we could have done the basics right.
“We felt the pressure, we are still settling in, but a lots of positives to take from this match.”
Pant’s Delhi counterpart Axar Patel made his debut as captain and said people should expect some ups and downs during his tenure.
“Be prepared for it now. It’s going to be like this only under my captaincy. Things will be up and down a little. Now that we have won, people won’t complain about why I gave that over to Stubbs (28 runs),” the spin bowling all-rounder said.
“Don’t remember the last time I saw something like this. The way they played in the first six overs, we felt we gave a few too many early on. We dropped some catches as well. It looked like they could score 240, but we pulled things back.”
LSG lost to DC by one wicket in their IPL 2025 opening match in Visakhapatnam Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
