The normally upbeat Rishabh Pant cut a desolate figure after Lucknow Super Giants slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat. A target of 160 was considered inadequate at the halfway mark, but became the lowest total successfully defended in this IPL edition so far. Ninth on the points table with four points and half of their 14 league matches played, LSG’s season is unravelling around their captain, and Pant knows it. “I don’t have answers,” he candidly admitted immediately after the loss. “It’s difficult to explain but our batting is letting us down. You have to look for answers inside, not outside.” While laying the blame on the batsmen’s door, the skipper cannot absolve himself as he was himself guilty of playing an ugly swipe against left-arm paceman Nandre Burger after the loss of an early wicket, only to feather it to the wicketkeeper. “We should have taken our time and taken the game deeper, including myself. No excuses. As a batting group, we have to put our hands up,” a disappointed Pant said. “But we have to keep our head high as we have the firepower to turn our season around.” His opposite number Riyan Parag acknowledged that Wednesday’s victory came despite it not being a perfect game from his team, recognising the contribution of his new-ball pairing of Burger and Jofra Archer. “I’m blessed to have such high-class fast bowlers who can deliver three overs each in the Powerplay. Their lengths and lines, and the way we fielded was impressive.”Story continues below this ad Parag knows that putting such a total on the board would not cut it on most occasions, and now wants his batting unit to pull up its socks. “We were really short with the bat and have to be better. A score of 180 would have been really good on that surface, but the bowlers bailed us out today,” he said. On his own form, the RR skipper struck a defiant note despite managing only 81 runs in seven knocks this season. “I had gone through something, even now I am going through something and everyone understands that. I feel the way I’m batting, an innings is not too far away, but if I go in tomorrow and play another game, it’s going to be what the team needs. It’s not me taking my time getting 40 or 30,” Parag stressed.Story continues below this ad Burger said the texture of the Lucknow wicket prompted him to cut his fingers across the ball, while his pace-bowling partner kept his speeds up throughout his four overs. “It’s cool to bowl with Jof (Archer). The wicket had a mahogany tint to it and the ball was gripping. I was trying to bowl the cutters and hope it grips,” the South African said.
IPL 2026: ‘Look for answers inside, not outside’: Rishabh Pant tells his LSG team after fourth straight defeat
