Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer defended Rishabh Pant’s shot selection after Lucknow Super Giants suffered a 40-run loss against Rajasthan Royals at Lucknow on Wednesday. Chasing a below par target of 160 runs, LSG were bundled out for 119 in 18 overs.
After Ayush Badoni was run out for a duck following a mix-up with Mitchell Marsh, Pant walked out to bat at one drop. However, Pant’s stay at the crease only lasted three balls as he was also dismissed without troubling the scorers. The LSG skipper tried to play a slog sweep on one knee against Nandre Burger but could only manage an outside edge to the keeper.
The former Australian opener said Pant wants to play freely and he is feeling the pressure like the other batters in the team.
“Yeah, I have not spoken with him yet. He wants to play with freedom. We see how he plays all his cricket. He is very instinctive. He wants to play freely. He is feeling the pinch like everyone else, and he is at a pivotal position at No. 3. He came out very aggressively against Punjab. He needed to as we were chasing 250. But I think that’s the style of play he wants to play, and he will be as frustrated as anyone that it didn’t come off today,” Langer said in the post-match press conference.
Langer admitted that they are yet to adjust to their home pitch at Lucknow. LSG have played four games at their home turf and they have lost two and won as many.
“The pitch here is very different from most of India. It’s a brilliant cricket pitch. You have pace and bounce, and we just haven’t quite adjusted to it. I thought we started off well by bowling well on it. We bowled well in the first game. We are just not adjusting to the extra pace and bounce. We saw that we have been out to the short ball a number of times. We are not adjusting. We see a lot of wickets in India where the ball doesn’t bounce very much. This is like playing at the WACA. There is real pace and bounce. Isn’t there? You are seeing some interesting cricket being played here, and we just haven’t been able to adapt to it at this stage,” Langer said.
LSG will next take on KKR at Lucknow on Sunday.
