Rishabh Pant didn't turn up to bat despite Lucknow Super Giants losing three wickets in a hurry after a marathon opening wicket stand of 135 between Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis in their chase against the Chennai Super Kings on Friday, May 15. Pant has not batted at anywhere lower than No.4 this IPL, but was not in action at the Ekana Cricket Stadium even after his team lost the third wicket in the form of Abdul Samad.
While he was not needed much after Marsh had dwarfed the 188-run target with his blistering 90 from 38 balls, Pant stated that his decision not to bat was due to 'respecting some things for the think tank'. "See, I was ready to bat, and the idea came up," Pant told broadcasters at the post-match presentation. "I was in the dressing room. The idea came in: why not try players who have not played much, they haven't got much chances, and that was the idea. I was thinking again and again, should I do it or not, because I still wanted to be out there in the field. But you know, sometimes you have to respect some things for the think tank."
Pant hasn't batted below No.4
Notably, the LSG skipper has not batted at anywhere below No.4 this season. In the 11 innings that he has played, the left-handed batter has batted at No.3 seven times, three times at No.4 and has opened the innings once. However, this was the first time that he didn't come out to bat in this season.
Pant speaks on 'too many though processes'
LSG have tried with several opening combinations before seemingly settling in for the dangerous pair of Marsh and Josh Inglis, who was not available for the first half of the tournament due to personal reasons. Before this overseas combination, Lucknow had also used the Marsh-Aiden Markram duo at the top, which didn't work out as the South African captain has not been in form this tournament.
"(On the opening partnership - is this what they had in mind?) Definitely, that was the first thought that came to mind, getting two overseas players to open the innings, and Nicky batted number three. That was the idea, sometimes it's difficult when the thought process is not being implemented all the time. But at the same time, we take pride, and we are confident as a team.
"The only thing I would say is, it's frustrating when you know what you have as a team, just because of little thought process here and there, and you can't implement things the way you want, things can happen," Pant said on the opening combination. "The only thing that can harm us is having too many thought processes."
Notably, even after LSG's loss to KKR in the Super Over earlier, Pant had used the same rhetoric, stating "too many minds don't make it easy on the ground," on being asked on some on-field decisions.
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