Rishabh Pant's 63 drags LSG to 166

Stop. Start. Stop. Start. That's how Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) batting innings panned out against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as the home team posted 166 for 7 in the first innings. In positive news to the LSG camp, captain Rishabh Pant played a crucial hand despite some struggles against spin to top score with 63 off 49 balls.

Pant began his innings inside the powerplay after CSK pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj landed early blows by dismissing Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran cheaply. He began his innings swiftly with his cuts and one reverse-lap six over short third.

But the bowling of Noor Ahmed and, to an extent, Ravindra Jadeja saw Pant's strike rate plummet from a high of 165 to 103. Off Noor, he played 10 dots in 15 balls for a strike rate of 40, the second-worst of all batters versus one bowler in the IPL (minimum 15 balls).

However, from 40 in 39 balls, Pant found his touch against the pace-on options of Matheesha Pathirana and Khaleel to turn his innings around. He raced to a 42-ball fifty courtesy two sixes and then looked for a big finish, but fell to Pathirana in the 20th over after a job well done.

Mitchell Marsh (30) and No. 5 Ayush Badoni (22) contributed with useful cameos but were outfoxed by Jadeja in his three-over spell of 2 for 24. Marsh paid the price of pulling across the line while Badoni charged at a fast, wide delivery.

Abdul Samad's 11-ball 20 late in the LSG innings allowed them to get 45 runs in the last three overs in Pant's company. But, it still left LSG with their lowest score of IPL 2025.