Sanjiv Goenka holds Rishabh Pant for chat right after his poor show and LSG's shock loss to DC in KL Rahul-like incident
After DC won out of nowhere, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka had a chat with captain Rishabh Pant and coach Justin Langer, reminding the KL Rahul incident of last IPL.
Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka, who bought Rishabh Pant into the side after spending a record ₹27 crore in the mega auction, was seen having a chat with the wicketkeeper-batter immediately after LSG lost to Delhi Capitals in their IPL 2025 opener. Despite having DC on the brink at 113 for six in the 210-run chase, LSG could not close the match. Ashutosh Sharma played one of the best knocks (66* off 31) under pressure to get DC off to a winning start with a wicket and three balls to spare in Visakhapatnam on Monday (March 24).
Pant, on his LSG debut as captain and player, had an ordinary day in all departments. In a match where more than 420 runs were scored and five batters batted at a 200-plus strike rate, Pant managed a six-ball duck. He was outsmarted by former DC teammate Kuldeep Yadav. His captaincy and performance behind the stumps were also not up to the mark. Shardul Thakur, the most experienced bowler in the LSG unit, was given only two overs despite the right-arm medium pacer getting two wickets in his first over.
Even when 22 runs were needed in the last two overs, Pant threw the ball to an inexperienced Prince Yadav instead of Shardul. The young pacer was hit for 16 runs, including two fours and a six. With a run-a-ball to get in the last over, Pant saw merit in summoning left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed. Surprisingly, there was no sign of Shardul, who has closed out a few last-over matches for India in the past.
All of this could have been undone had Pant held on to a stumping chance in the last over of the match. Shahbaz produced an absolute beauty, beating DC No.11 Mohit Sharma all ends up but Pant could not gather the ball behind the stumps as it had changed its direction after Mohit's back pad.
"Definitely luck plays a part in this game and if it could have missed his (Mohit Sharma's) pads, it was a chance for stumping. But these things happen in the game of cricket, you can't focus on these things, but rather you need to play better cricket," Pant said in the post-match presentation.
After the match LSG owner Goenka decided to have a chat with his captain and coach Justin Langer. The conversation was not as animated as the one with former captain KL Rahul in IPL 2024, which many believe was the beginning of the end of Rahul's tenure at LSG but it was a quiet reminder to Pant that he would have to get his act together.
Sanjiv Goenka's chat with Rishabh Pant after LSG lose to DC
Ashutosh Sharma's brilliant display
Ashutosh, an impact substitute on debut for Delhi, lifted his new team from a precarious 65-5 to achieve their target of 210 with three balls to spare.
Needing 22 off the final two overs and six off the last six balls with one wicket remaining, Ashutosh stood strong and hit the winning six.
Delhi were 7-3 in the second over, and had lost half their side for 65 when Faf du Plessis got out on 29 in his first match for the franchise.
New captain Axar Patel hit a quickfire 22 and Tristan Stubbs smashed 34.
