Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were ahead by 15th over of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) chase in IPL 2025 on Monday (Apr 14) but lost the game by five wickets – their third loss of the season. The decision to not let spinner Ravi Bishnoi bowl his complete quota of overs was something skipper Rishabh Pant might find wrong in hindsight.
Bishnoi had figures of 2/18 in three overs with nine of his 18 balls being a dot. He last bowled in 13th over and less experienced Digvesh Rathi as well as part-time Aiden Markram were allowed to complete their overs head of him. LSG turned to pacers in the last five overs which did the undoing.
Also Read –IPL 2025 | In a boost to LSG, express pacer Mayank Yadav could be available for next match vs RR
"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," Bishnoi said at the press conference after the loss.
"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," he added.
Pant was also asked the same question to which he said: "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."
Chasing a modest 167, CSK needed 24 runs off last two overs when Shardul Thakur bowled a nightmare 19th over and conceded 19 runs. CSK batters Shivam Dube 43 not out of 37) and MS Dhoni (25 not out off 10) then took the team home with three balls left for their second win of the season.
