Lucknow, May 28 (H.S.): Rishabh Pant, who played an explosive innings of 118 runs not out off 61 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the last league match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, stated that this time he was focused on converting starts into big scores, which he had failed to do in previous matches. However, despite his brilliant innings, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) faced defeat after scoring 227 runs. On this loss, Pant said, We couldn't play good cricket for 40 overs.

In the post-match presentation, Pant said, I was feeling good with each match, but sometimes things don’t go your way. Today I had decided that if I get a start, I need to convert it into a big score, like experienced players do. I have learned from the best that when you get a chance, you must seize it.

Pant's season with the bat had been quite dull. Before this match, he had only managed to score 151 runs in 12 innings. He shared that in this match, he adopted a strategy of playing straight and looking for gaps, which had not been working for him before.

He said, I thought about the angle from which the bowler would bowl and tried to adapt accordingly. Playing straight, looking for gaps, I kept everything simple and treated every ball with the same seriousness.

LSG's bowling did not have a significant impact in this match. Will O’Rourke and Shahbaz Ahmed together conceded 113 runs in just 7 overs. Meanwhile, fielding errors and Digvijay Rathi's backfoot no-ball, which gave player of the match Jitesh Sharma a life, contributed to the team's defeat.

Pant stated, In T20, playing well for just 20 overs is not enough. You need to play well for a full 40 overs in the match, and that has been our story. Several players were injured before the tournament, which affected us throughout the season.

LSG secured seventh place in the points table by winning 6 out of 14 matches this season. However, Pant pointed out some positive aspects as well.

He said, There have been some notable bowling performances. Digvijay Rathi was commendable, and Avesh Khan bowled crucial overs. Akash Singh and Akash Deep also did well. We had opportunities, but we couldn't maintain them for long, and that was the reason for the defeat.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar