Rishabh Pant was a disappointed captain and he rued not completing the full quota of wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s overs after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) succumbed to a five-wicket defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday (April 14).
CSK overhauled the target of 167 in 19.3 overs and recorded their second win of the season after suffering five consecutive losses.
Bishnoi was the stand-out bowler for LSG, returning with the figures of 2/18 in his three overs. However, much to everyone’s surprise, he didn’t come on to bowl again after the 13th over as Shivam Dube (43* off 37) and MS Dhoni (26* off 11) took the game away from the hosts.
Following his team’s loss, Pant revealed that he had planned to bring Bishnoi later in the game as they wanted to take it deep. However, the moment couldn’t arrive with Dube and Dhoni taking their attack to the cleaners.
“We feel that as a team we were 10 to 15 runs short, we kept losing wickets when the momentum was with us. We had to keep stitching in partnerships. The wicket was stopping a bit, but we could have got 15 runs more I feel. I am feeling better with each and every game, but sometimes it doesn't come off. Slowly getting into my rhythm, taking every match at a time,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.
“We discussed with a lot of players, but we couldn't take him (Bishnoi) deeper, that (bowling his last over) didn't happen today. Bowling in the powerplay has been a concern for us, but we can pull things back. As a team we are looking to take the positives from each and every game and we are trying to improve,” he added.
Rahul Tripathi (9 off 10) and Ravindra Jadeja (7 off 11) were Ravi Bishnoi’s victims in the middle overs. However, Pant missed the trick of not bowling him against Dhoni early in his innings, considering the CSK legend’s history of being tentative against spin.
Dhoni stitched an unbeaten 57-run partnership off 28 balls with Dube as he propelled his team over the finishing line. The wicketkeeper-batter was declared Player of the Match for his fiery cameo and stunning glovework.
