After Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lost their opening game of IPL 2026 to Delhi Capitals, visuals of the LSG owner talking to his captain on the field went viral. Surely not again, and not so soon? KL Rahul had parted ways with the LSG franchise at the end of IPL 2024, after getting a dressing down from the owner that was broadcast around the world following a chastening defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Now Rishabh Pant was in the hot seat.
Though the interaction wasn’t as overt as the one with Rahul, it spread like wildfire on social media. LSG tried to control the narrative by putting out what they called an unedited video on their socials of the same people and the same discussion. But that raised a whole new set of questions. It is with this noise that Pant went into LSG’s second game and noise is the one thing cricketers can’t stand. Particularly one who had plenty of other challenges to deal with.
Pant is approaching 10 years as an international cricketer but is only assured of a place in the Indian Test team. A batter who is known for such unorthodox strokeplay was supposed to cash in on the T20 game but it just never happened. Pant had one amazing IPL in 2018 when he scored 684 runs at a strike rate of 173.60. But otherwise he was skirting a little too close to the middle of the pile.
Nobody seemed to know what his best batting position was. His success in Test cricket comes from his fearlessness, combined with the fact that the field tends to be up, which he exploits because he’s the kind of batter who finds it almost easier to play an attacking shot than a defensive shot. Not to say he can’t knuckle down – the Gabba Test is evidence there – but there are stories. He lost his wicket once and got angry at Cheteshwar Pujara for telling him to tone down his strokeplay; for confusing him and leaving him vulnerable.
Pant began this IPL opening the batting, hoping that the field restrictions plus his uncanny ability to hit over the top even without being properly balanced at the crease would equal plenty of runs. And it might have if he hadn’t been run out at the non-strikers’ end when a straight drive flicked the bowler’s hand and hit the stumps. On Sunday, chasing 157 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he came out at No. 3. Statistically, it’s been his best position, 626 runs at an average of 52.16 and a strike rate of 167.82. This, however, pushes a batter with even greater pedigree at No. 3 – Nicholas Pooran – further down the order, and it has become very clear that that diminishes him a bit. His worst IPL season in 2021 came when he batted six of his 11 innings at No. 5 and his best IPL season came when he batted No. 3 in 12 out of 14 innings. Pooran has made 8 and 1 in his two matches for LSG in 2026 and his dismissal left the game against SRH extremely tense.
There were still 52 runs needed off 42 balls and the last recognised batting pair was at the crease. Next man in, Mukul Chaudhary, was a 21-year-old playing his first season of IPL. It was excruciatingly clear that Pant will have to take the team home. Pant, who has still not sorted out his T20 game. Pant whose career has panned out in such a way that the probability of him being out there when the winning runs are scored is down at 0.13 (61 chases, eight not outs). Pant who was made to feel responsible for the previous game ending in a loss.
To that external pressure came the perils of batting on a slow pitch. Pant needed 12 balls to get his first boundary and plenty more to settle into his innings. He was still playing his shots. There was a pull against Harshal Patel that went to deep third instead. There was a cut off Shivang Kumar that was stopped just short of the boundary. There was a slice off Eshan Malinga that only just cleared mid-off. This wasn’t turning out like an innings that he would be telling his grandchildren.
But he persevered. A small target helped him focus. Staying out there despite the struggle meant he eventually got a bad ball that he could put away. Jaydev Unadkat lost his line down the leg side and forgot to hit the pitch with one of those balls and Pant helped himself to two boundaries in the 16th over. Forty-three off 30 became 29 off 24, then 15 off 12, and finally 9 off 6.
Pant pre-empted Unadkat trying to go yorker and took guard deep in his crease. That gave him leverage to open the final over with a boundary. The bowler went pace off and into the wicket. Pant, frantically backing away from the ball, flat-batted it over mid-off and fell over off balance. He was on his knees when the dugout rose in applause. A little later, he slumped all the way over and laid back on the outfield all on his own. He is definitely going to tell his grandchildren about this game. And he has earned the right to embellish it like hell. Most of Pant’s best work involves a child-like belief that the impossible is possible. This one was all about being grown-up enough to suck it up and do what was necessary.
