Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) ploy to experiment with their opening combination in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League (IPL) failed completely after an unlucky dismissal brought an end to Rishabh Pant’s time in the middle against Delhi Capitals at the Ekana Stadium on Wednesday.
LSG primarily relied on the explosive batting duo of Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram as their openers in the previous season. Skipper Pant, who batted down the order in the whole of IPL 2025, decided to open the innings in 2026. However, the move backfired as Pant’s stay at the crease lasted only nine balls, which included just a single boundary and three singles.
The wicketkeeper-batter was run out at the non-striker’s end in the most bizarre fashion. The incident took place on the final ball of the over by Mukesh Kumar. Marsh, who had already hit two fours by then, drilled it back to the bowler. The ball came at a good height of Mukesh, who put his hand across for a catch. Instead, the ball hit Mukesh’s hand to crash onto the stumps at the none-striker’s end with Pant way outside the crease.
Pant managed just seven runs and walked back completely dejected.
Where Rishabh Pant batted in IPL 2025?
Primarily Pant floated himself in the middle order at no. 4, No. 5, and 6. In fact, during one stretch of the tournament, the southpaw bat at no.4 in four games. He once batted at no.7 (vs Delhi Capitals). However, his success finally came at no.3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, scoring 118 off 61 balls. Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen urged Pant to bat above. Pant scored 269 runs in 14 games in IPL 2025.
LSG not in elements against Delhi Capitals
Soon after Pant was dismissed, LSG lost three more wickets within no time. While T Natarajan got better of Ayush Badoni, skipper Axar Patel cleaned up Aiden Markram by the seventh over. Making his Delhi Capitals debut Lungi Ngidi added more misery for LSG with the wicket of Nicolas Pooran. Kuldeep Yadav got the big fish of Marsh for 35.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel won the toss and opted to bowl in their first IPL 2026 clash. Delhi Capitals have fielded overs overseas players in David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, Tristan Stubbs and Lungi Ngidi. LSG went with four overseas players in Markram, Marsh, Pooran and Anrich Nortje.
LSG vs DC playing XIs
Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul, Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel (c), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar..
Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c, wk), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohsin Khan, Mohammed Shami, Anrich Nortje, Prince Yadav.
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