Rishabh Pant feels that his side couldn’t capitalise on the opportunities early on in the game, and that led to the loss. He also stated that they have room for improvement and they will come back as a stronger side in the game against RCB.

The Lucknow Supergiants skipper, Rishabh Pant, expressed his words of disappointment after their loss against the Gujarat Titans by 7 wickets. LSG had come back strongly with two consecutive victories after a loss in their opening game against the Delhi Capitals. Rishabh Pant stated that there were situations that they could take advantage of, but they couldn’t. While defending such totals, the bowling side must make every opportunity count.

The Gujarat Titans chased the total down in 18 overs, and at no point in the run chase were the Lucknow Supergiants in control of the game. The Gujarat skipper, Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler made sure that the scoreboard kept ticking, as both the batters scored half-centuries. The match was finished off by some impactful cameos from Washington Sundar and Rahul Tewatia.

Batting frailties and missed opportunities haunt LSG despite flashes of promise with ball

“We’re really disappointed with ourselves. We had our moments in the game, but couldn’t capitalise on them when it mattered most. There are a lot of areas we need to improve; we'll make sure we come back stronger in the next match,” said Rishabh Pant during the post-match interview.

The Lucknow Supergiants will predominantly feel that they got off to a good start with the bat, despite the early wicket of Marsh. The shot selection from Rishabh Pant was poor as he tried to force the ball towards the leg side and ended up mistiming it straight into the hands of Rahul Tewatia. Nicholas Pooran will be disappointed with his form as he did hit a couple of sixes against Rashid Khan, but he once again was dismissed for a low score. A serious area of concern for the batting order would be their strike rates. Three out of the six batters in the batting unit were batting at a strike rate below 100. Hence, their innings was limited to a score of 164/8 after the 20 overs.

As far as their bowling is concerned, they have ticked a few boxes in the pace bowling department with the form of Mohammed Shami and Prince Yadav. Sai Sudharshan and Shubman Gill were off to a solid start in the power play as they scored 45 off the 5 overs. Digvesh Rathi dismissed Sai Sudharshan in the 6th over, and for that wicket, you only have the batter to blame.

Prince Yadav and Mohammed Shami were able to pick a wicket each to dismiss the two dangerous batters, Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, but it was a bit too late in the game. Their bowlers could have been more demanding with the ball, but with a total of 164 on board, you simply cannot blame the bowlers.

The Lucknow Supergiants have lost their 2nd game of the season, and Rishabh Pant, the skipper, will know that they will have to put up better performances. LSG has incredible potential to perform, but what hurts them most will be the form of Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram. The Lucknow Supergiants will take on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 15th at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.