‘Pant rotated the bowlers really well against RCB: Tare

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Defending 213 in the rain-curtailed 19-overs-a-side contest, LSG survived a late scare from RCB before restricting the visitors to 203/6, with Pant’s bowling changes and tactical calls proving decisive in the closing stages.

“Lucknow Super Giants started their bowling innings in incredible fashion. Mohammed Shami has been a master of picking up wickets in the first over this season, and he did it again against RCB,” Tare told Jio Hotstar.

Tare highlighted how Pant handled a crucial phase of the innings when LSG were yet to use a fifth bowler by the end of the 12th over.

“Then came a moment where Rishabh Pant’s captaincy was tested. By the end of the 12th over, he still hadn’t used his fifth bowler. That was a risky situation. He turned to Shahbaz Ahmed to fill that role, and that move paid off as Shahbaz picked up two wickets,” he said.

“Pant has been feeling the heat as the captain of LSG this season, but against RCB, he rotated his bowlers smartly and got the best out of everyone,” he added.

Tare also praised Pant’s decision to trust Digvesh Singh Rathi with the final over despite the spinner conceding heavily earlier in the innings.

“In a high-pressure final over, the captain’s decision can make or break the game, and Rishabh Pant handing the ball to Digvesh Rathi for the final over was a risky move,” Tare said.

“Rathi had gone for 41 runs in his first three overs and was clearly struggling for confidence. But Pant backed him, trusting that Rathi’s googly could make the difference. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Tare also reserved praise for young pacer Prince Yadav, who dismissed Virat Kohli with a superb delivery and also took three crucial wickets.

“Prince Yadav produced a gem of a delivery to dismiss the chase master Virat Kohli. This dismissal against LSG is Kohli’s first in a 200-plus chase in nearly a decade. Full credit to Prince Yadav for his accuracy and big-game temperament,” he said.

Meanwhile, despite the win, LSG are still at the bottom of the points table with six points in ten matches.

–IANS

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The series begins in Vadodara on January 11, and is followed by clashes in Rajkot and Indore on January 14 and 18 respectively. But when the matter comes to having Pant in the ODI squad, expect a serious discussion to happen in the selection meeting.

Pant’s form in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy has been uneven, with just one half-century in four matches, totalling to 121 runs coming at an average of 30.25. Pant has not played an ODI since featuring against Sri Lanka in August 2024 – it came after he missed substantial game time due to recovering from injuries sustained in a life-threatening car accident in December 2022.

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Making things complicated for Pant is the re-emergence of Ishan Kishan, who’s now in the T20 World Cup squad on the back of blazing form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, as well as Dhruv Jurel making big runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Already out of India’s T20I side and with his ODI prospects looking bleak, Pant has effectively only the IPL and a handful of Tests later this year to showcase his continued relevance to India’s white-ball plans.

Another name likely to feature in discussions by the selection committee is in-form left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal, who has scored three centuries in four games in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.

But with captain Shubman Gill returning, as well as Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad around, it will be interesting to see how the selectors go about in accommodating Padikkal in the squad.

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