Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rishabh Pant has been fined INR 30 lakh for his third slow over-rate offence of this season. The incident occurred during the 70th match of IPL 2025 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday, where RCB pulled off a brilliant chase to seal a Qualifier 1 berth for the first time since 2016 with a six-wicket win.
Having already been penalised on April 5 and April 26, Pant’s third breach resulted in a hefty fine. The rest of the playing XII were each fined INR 12 lakh or 50% of their match fee, whichever was lower. Fortunately for Pant, the IPL 2025 rule change spared him from suspension, with the earlier regulation stating that a third offence led to a one-match ban.
Meanwhile, it was a Pant show till the first innings as the LSG captain hammered an unbeaten 118 off just 61 balls, lacing his innings with 11 fours and eight sixes. He stitched a massive 152-run stand with Mitchell Marsh (67 off 37), guiding the hosts to a strong total of 227/3 in their allotted 20 overs.
Could RCB have lost if Pant hadn’t withdrawn run-out appeal?
The Southpaw looked in solid nick as he took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, and Romario Shepherd, reaching his fifty in 29 balls and pushing the run-rate even further during the death overs. Despite the pressure of chasing a big target, RCB batters looked calm and composed. Openers Phil Salt and Virat Kohli got off to a flying start, as they took the team’s score to 61 in just 5.4 overs.
After Salt fell for 30, Kohli went on to score 54 off 30 balls. However, the second half of the day was in favour of RCB’s stand-in skipper, Jitesh Sharma, who smashed an unbeaten 85 off just 33 balls, his first IPL fifty, which included eight fours and six sixes. His calculated aggression, along with Mayank Agarwal (41* off 23) holding one end, Jitesh played the aggressor in their unbroken 107-run partnership that clinched them a six-wicket win with 8 balls to spare.
