During Tuesday's IPL 2025 encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant brought back memories. Fans on social media were quick to identify the "master plan" that helped his club win its second game in a row this season.
Nicholas Pooran's carnage at the Eden Gardens helped Lucknow set a lofty goal of 239 runs, with the West Indies batsman smashing an unbeaten 87 off 36. But the target proved to be enough for Kolkata, who cruised to victory at home thanks to a furious 73-run stand for the third wicket between Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer.
As KKR stood 149/2 after 12 overs, the home team needed 90 more runs to score from the remaining 48 balls. Lucknow had run out of ideas, with Rahane and Iyer showing no mercy to any bowling. But the breakthrough came at the end of the 13th over, when Shardul Thakur dismissed Rahane after bowling 11 deliveries, five of which were wides.
In the 13th over, Rishabh Pant went down with a back ache. He suddenly felt back trouble, making the LSG dugout apprehensive as the physio was called. Pant was treated on the field, which caused a delay in the game, before deciding to continue playing.
Fans claimed Pant "faked" the injury to derail KKR's momentum. He had previously employed this strategy in the T20 World Cup final last June, which was followed by Heinrich Klaasen's game-changing dismissal.
Here are a few reactions:
Regardless of how social media reacted to the event, Pant claimed that he strained his back while wicketkeeping before ensuring that he was all right.
"The back is fine now," he stated during the post-match presentation.
Lucknow will play its next two matches at home, against the Gujarat Titans on Saturday and the Chennai Super Kings on Monday.
