IPL 2025 | 'It always happens in Lucknow,' Pant reveals where they lost vs DC and why Badoni came ahead to him to bat

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rishabh Pant is having a nightmare of a season as a batter in IPL 2025. While the team has managed to win five out of nine games, they haven't exuded much confidence as a unit. On Tuesday (Apr 22), they lost against Delhi Capitals and Pant said toss played a huge part in the game.

"We were 20 runs short," acknowledged Pant after the loss as DC chased down 160-run target inside 18 overs.

Also Watch:DC's KL Rahul finds it 'good to be back in Lucknow' and does courtesy handshake with LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka after win

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"Toss played a huge part, whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket .. we just couldn't get it away. It always happens in Lucknow, wicket becomes better in the second innings, that's how it goes, we can't make excuses but have to learn from it," he added.

Pant also spoke about bringing in Ayush Badoni as impact player to replace Mitchell Marsh during LSG's innings. The decision looked odd given the skipper himself was available to bat but did not come.

"We are using Ayush as Impact Player to try and give Mayank (Yadav) some game time early in the season, trying to fit him in, since he's just come from NCA. We sent someone to capitalise on wicket like that, Miller came in, we got stuck on that wicket and we need to figure out our best combination," Pant explained.

Pant has had horrible season with the bat which is visible in his numbers. In eight innings of the nine games played, he has managed just 106 runs at an average of 13. Most of his runs came in one innings when he scored 63 - his only fifty of the season. The attacking batter has been kept quite by the bowlers as shows his strike rate of 96.

Know for hitting one-handed sixes and fours at will, Pant has managed just eight fours and five sixes this season.