Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 23 (ANI): Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant outlined the reason behind holding himself back in the batting order and shed light on the continued absence of tearaway Mayank Yadav despite his presence in the impact subs list following their thumping eight-wicket defeat in their home den against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday night in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After being put to bat by DC skipper Axar Patel, Lucknow got off to a blistering start with an explosive 87-run opening stand between Aiden Markram (52) and Mitchell Marsh (45). After Markram fell in the 10th over and the in-form Nicholas Pooran (9) put on a flop show, many expected Pant to take the crease and unleash a fusillade of boundaries.

Abdul Samad walked out instead of the explosive southpaw, followed by David Miller and Ayush Badoni. Pant eventually turned up with two deliveries left in the first innings and delivered yet another scratchy display with the bat.

He went for a wild swing on his first delivery and missed the line completely as the ball flew over the stumps. On the final delivery of the first innings, he switched his stance to find the fence.

Mukesh Kumar followed him with a full delivery around the leg stump. The ball ricocheted off his pads and deflected onto the stumps, ending Pant's night on a two-ball duck and LSG's on an underwhelming 159/6.

Many speculated that Pant's late arrival was due to the heavy strapping on his hand, which was visible during the toss. However, the LSG captain cleared the air around the decision and said the idea behind the change in combination was to 'capitalise.'

'The Idea was to capitalise. We sent Samad to capitalise on a wicket like that. After that, Miller came in, and we just really got stuck in the wicket. Eventually, these are the things we have to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward,' he said after the match.

Despite a belligerent start to the fixture, LSG's swift innings became a victim of sluggishness in the middle overs and ended up losing the plot. From a point where Lucknow stood in pole position to put 180 to 190 runs on the board, they barely limped to 159/6.

'We knew we were 20 runs short. In Lucknow, the toss played a big part. Whoever is bowling first gets a lot of help from the wicket. We just had to stay back. We just couldn't get it away,' he added.

While Pant conceded that the team is not looking for 'excuses,' he did point out the 'huge role' of the toss in dictating the terms of play. Out of six fixtures in Lucknow in IPL 2025, the team that won the toss emerged victorious in five.

'Yes, toss is playing a huge part here, but as a team, we are not looking for excuses. It always happens in Lucknow, in the second innings, the wicket gets better and batter to bat on, that's how the game goes, and you can't be complaining,' Pant remarked.

With more than half of the season done and dusted, Lucknow is still without the tearaway they unearthed last season: Mayank Yadav. While talking about the prospect of infusing the young speedster into the playing XI, Pant disclosed that they are still trying to figure out a way to fit him in.

'That is one idea why we are impacting Ayush, to get Mayank some game time, just trying to find ways to get him early in the season, because it's already halfway around. He came from NCA now, just trying to fit him in,' he said.

After Lucknow succumbed to its fourth defeat in the season, Pant had a clear message for his side ahead of their remaining fixtures, 'I haven't thought about anything as of now, just finished the match, we are gonna regroup, realign and refocus again. Just going to be playing the next match from a fresh start.' (ANI)