"There were a lot of injuries": Rishabh Pant's bold verdict on LSG's IPL 2025 horror show

Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) locked horns with the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

Lucknow Super Giants lost the match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets on Monday, May 19, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Also Read: Watch: Rishabh Pant confronts Digvesh Rathi over notebook celebration after Ishan Kishan's wicket

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The story would have been different if... - Rishabh Pant

Batting first, Mitchell Marsh slammed 65 runs off 39 balls, Aiden Markram hit 61 runs off 38 balls, and Nicholas Pooran smashed 45 runs off 26 balls to help LSG post 205/7 on the board.

Defending the total, LSG bowlers were not up to the mark, and they allowed the run-chase to be completed in 18.2 overs. With the defeat in the match, Lucknow Super Giants got eliminated from the playoffs race.

Speaking after the match to the broadcasters, Rishabh Pant said that they faced a lot of injury issues in IPL 2025 and had they gotten all the bowlers that they had after the IPL auction, things could've been different. Rishabh Pant said:

"Definitely, it could have been our best season. There were a lot of injuries. As a team, we decided not to talk about that, but it got difficult for us to close those gaps."

"[Not having a settled bowling side] If we would have the same bowling attack that we planned in the auction, the story would have been different. Sometimes things don't go your way. We will still look at the positives rather than discussing the negatives."

The bowler Rathi has come up nicely for us - Rishabh Pant

While talking about positives from the season, Rishabh Pant said that they have a strong batting unit. He elaborated:

"We have a strong batting lineup. We have enough firepower which is the biggest positives. Even the bowlers have bowled in good areas in patches."

"We were a few runs short because the wicket was playing well. We played good but in patches. When you look at the first half of our season, we did really well. But it got tougher and tougher to catchup the sides on the brighter side.

In the end, Rishabh Pant showered rich praise on Digvesh Rathi for his heroics with the ball. He said:

"The bowler Rathi has come up nicely for us. This is his first season. Really good to see him bowl. He is one of the positives of the season. As a team you got to keep improving and find ways to get better and better."

LSG crushed SRH in their previous IPL clash

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) delivered a dominant all-round performance to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five wickets on March 27, 2025, in Hyderabad. Chasing 191, they bagged a win in just 16.1 overs.

Opting to bowl first in the match, Lucknow Super Giants' bowling unit did a fantastic job. Shardul Thakur registered his best-ever IPL figures of 4/34, dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Abhinav Manohar, and Mohammed Shami.

Also, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Digvesh Rathi chipped in with a wicket each as LSG restricted the SRH lineup to 190/9, which was a below-par score.

Chasing 191, LSG lost Aiden Markram early, but the innings was steadied by Mitchell Marsh, who slammed a brutal 52 runs off 31 balls. The real game-changing innings came from Nicholas Pooran's bat as he blasted 70 runs off just 26 balls.

In the end, Abdul Samad (22* off 8) and David Miller (13* off 7) ensured there were no late hiccups and they finished off the game with 23 balls to spare.