“We wanted to…”: Rishabh Pant reveals reason behind skipping batting vs KKR

The Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) locked horns with the Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 21st match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) on Tuesday, April 8.

Lucknow Super Giants defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 runs in a thrilling IPL 2025 match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

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I think when we batted we didn't realise it will get this close - Rishabh Pant

After being invited to bat first in the match, Lucknow Super Giants posted a huge score of 238/3 on the board, thanks to Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, and Aiden Markram.

Defending the score, Lucknow Super Giants bowlers were taken to the cleaners but they did enough to restrict the opposition to 234/7 to seal a win.

During the post-match presentation ceremony, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant said that he was surprised that the match got very close. He added that the message to his bowling unit was to just stick to the plan without trying any extra things. He elaborated:

"I think when we batted we didn't realise it will get this close but after the powerplay we did. After the first timeout we went to the bowlers and told them to stick to the plans, not try too many things and do the basics right."

We wanted to keep the right-left combination going - Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant once again used his smart tactics during the second innings to slow down the game when the Kolkata Knight Riders batters were going berserk. Talking about this, he said:

"That was very conscious (to slow down the game), when the game is going down at that pace you need to do something, it works sometimes and sometimes it does not work."

Rishabh Pant, surprisingly, didn't come out to bat at No.4 amid his poor form, instead, Abdul Samad was sent to bat at No.4, and even after his dismissal, it was David Miller who walked in to bat. Talking about this move, Rishabh Pant said:

"(On promoting Abdul Samad to No. 4) We wanted to keep the right-left combination going. The back is fine now."

How did LSG perform in the previous IPL match against KKR?

Lucknow Super Giants endured one of their most forgettable outings in their previous IPL match against Kolkata Knight Riders at home as they faced a massive 98-run loss.

The trouble began for LSG while bowling first, as they were absolutely demolished by the KKR batting unit. Sunil Narine and other batters smashed the bowlers all over the park and ended up posting a huge score of 235/6 on the board.

Ravi Bishnoi emerged as the most economical bowler for LSG. He registered figures of 1/33, while Naveen-ul-Haq picked the most wickets (3) but leaked 49 runs in his four overs.

Chasing the target, Lucknow Super Giants just couldn't get going. A 50-run stand between KL Rahul (25) and Marcus Stoinis (36) briefly offered hope but once they got out, the innings unraveled rapidly, with the last nine wickets falling for just 67 runs.

LSG were bundled out for 137 in 16.1 overs as Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy bagged three wickets each while the rest of the bowlers also shined.