Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant believes the bowlers could have executed their plans in a better way after suffering a pulsating one-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Monday.
LSG posted a par score of 209 runs on the board though they struggled a bit in the last five overs, managing only 40 runs off the last 31 balls. However, the visitors was able to put themselves in front as Delhi Capitals were reduced to 65-5 after 6.4 overs.
To steady the ship, Tristan Stubbs scored a good cameo of 22-ball 34 to keep Delhi in the contest. Subsequently, the most important cameo was played by IPL debutant Vipraj Nigam, who scored a blistering knock of 15-ball 39. When Nigam was dismissed, Delhi Capitals needed another 42 runs with Ashutosh Sharma at the crease.
The batter from Madhya Pradesh scored a blistering knock of 66 runs off just 31 balls with the help of five fours and as many sixes to help his team get over the finishing line.
Rishabh Pant was disappointed after they could not defend the score despite dominating the majority of the match.
Pant said in the post-match presentation, “I think our top-order batters played really well and I think it was a pretty good score on this wicket. As a team we are looking to take positives from every match and as a team we are looking to learn from it (every match.) The more basics we do right, the more it is going to be better for us in the future. We got early wickets, but we knew it was a good wicket to bat on. We had to keep doing the basics right more often than not.”
He added, “I think they had a couple of good partnerships. One with Stubbs, with Ashutosh and one with one other guy (Vipraj Nigam.) I think he (Nigam) did a pretty good job and took the game away from us. There was enough for the bowlers, but I think we could have done the basics right. We felt the pressure, we are still settling in, but a lots of positives to take from this match. Definitely luck plays a part in this game and if it could have missed his (Mohit Sharma’s) pads, it was a chance for stumping. But these things happen in the game of cricket, you can’t focus on these things, but rather you need to play better cricket.”
Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday.
