Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned Rishabh Pant’s captaincy after Lucknow Super Giants suffered a five-wicket loss against Chennai Super Kings at Lucknow on Monday. Defending a target of 167 runs, the match was in the balance in the last five overs.
However, Pant decided not to back Ravi Bishnoi, who returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in the three overs he bowled.
It is well known that Dhoni’s struggles a bit against the spinners whereas Shivam Dube was also struggling to find his timing. While Dube scored an unbeaten 43 off 37 balls, Dhoni scored a fine cameo of 11-ball 26 to help his team get over the line in the run-chase.
“I felt Rishabh Pant made a mistake in captaincy. Ravi Bishnoi’s over should have been bowled. How will you do it if you don’t give him his full quota of overs? He was one guy who had taken two wickets and hardly given any runs in three overs, but you stopped him,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
The renowned commentator reckons LSG could have won the game if Bishnoi had been given his final over.
“If you had given him that over, the result of the match might have been different. I think he missed a trick. I don’t know how much dew was there on the ground. It’s been said that there was dew, but Ravi Bishnoi should have bowled one more over,” Chopra observed.
On the other hand, Rishabh Pant scored a crucial knock of 63 runs off 49 balls but Chopra noted that the left-hander looked far from his best.
“He scored runs in this match for sure, but the truth is that he didn’t score that fast. They were 15 to 20 runs short. Their team gets slightly stuck if the top three get out. They got dismissed this time, and they came under pressure. The captain came and scored runs. He played some good shots but looked far from his peak form,” he said.
Chopra highlighted that LSG could not post a par score on the board and it led to their downfall.
“He hadn’t scored runs in the last few matches, so it is clearly visible that he isn’t able to control the game and take it forward on his strength. Of course, you need a little help. (Ayush) Badoni and Abdul Samad were there with him for some time, but they didn’t have enough runs on the board,” Chopra observed.
Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday.
