Lucknow Super Giants leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi has shed light on his captain Rishabh Pant’s decision to not give him the final over against Chennai Super Kings at Lucknow on Monday. Despite returning with impressive figures of 2-18 in the three overs he bowled, Pant decided not to bowl Bishnoi in the final few overs.

Instead, Pant decided to back the pace duo of Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur but the tactics didn’t work as CSK registered a five-wicket win. While Thakur conceded 56 runs in the four overs he bowled, Khan conceded 32 runs in 3.3 overs.

Meanwhile, it is well known that MS Dhoni is not a confident starter against the spinners and thus Pant’s decision to not back Ravi Bishnoi was baffling. Bishnoi also had Rahul Tripathi dropped off his bowling when Abdul Samad could not hang on to a simple catch.

Bishnoi said in the post-match presser, “I didn’t really talk [to Pant] about it, but I went to the wicket a couple of times [to check] and I think he had plans in place he wanted to execute. In such situations, the captain is better placed, and he keeps wicket, too, so he understands things better. According to me, he took the decision he thought was better. He was clear in his mind and it’s better in such tense situations that the captain thinks with a clear mind.”

On the other hand, Pant revealed he had different plans after discussing the bowling strategy with other players.

Pant said in the post-match presentation, “There was a lot of time when I thought about bowling him [Bishnoi] that [fourth] over. But we discussed with a lot of players and just couldn’t let him bowl. We thought let’s take it deeper, and that didn’t happen for us today.”

Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday.