“We knew there were a lot of gaps due to injuries going into IPL 2025,” Rishabh Pant said about where LSG went wrong

After the game, Rishabh Pant stated, “We decided we won’t talk about that, but it became difficult to close out those gaps.”

The injuries that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacers suffered at the start and during the middle of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 left significant voids that were challenging for the other players to fill, according to Rishabh Pant. Following his team’s elimination on Monday, May 19, following a defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, the LSG captain made this statement.

Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram each scored fifty runs to help LSG reach a commanding 205/7. However, the former champions won in 18.2 overs with six wickets remaining with to Abhishek Sharma’s 20-ball 59 and helpful contributions from Heinrich Klaasen, Kamindu Mendis, and Ishan Kishan.

For us, it couldn’t be the best season. We anticipated going into the competition that there would be several gaps due to injury.

Mohsin Khan was injured and missed the full season. After missing the first few games, Avesh Khan and Akash Deep joined the team. Midway through the season, Mayank Yadav made a full recovery from an injury and participated in two games. However, his campaign was cut short by another injury.

“The story would have been different if we had used the same bowling [approach] in the manner we organised the auction. However, since cricket is a game, anything can happen. They don’t always go your way, but sometimes they do. We must be proud of the way we’re performing. Instead of talking more about the negative aspects, we should focus on the good,” he continued.

Rathi, the bowler, has undoubtedly improved for us this season: Rishabh Pant

The batting department’s firepower has been LSG’s greatest asset, according to Rishabh Pant. Despite their best efforts, his bowlers were inconsistent, he observed.

“The batting has adequate firepower. That’s the main advantage. Even the bowlers were rather uneven, but they were bowling in good spots. We were attempting to do the best we could. In patches, we’ve been playing well. The players performed well in the first half of the season, and we made an effort to hide any issues, but it was harder and harder to catch up to the teams that were performing well in the second half,” Rishabh Pant said.

Digvesh Rathi, who dazzled the cricket community with his leg-spin bowling all season long, was also praised by Pant. At a respectable economy rate of 8.18, the Delhi cricketer has claimed 14 wickets in 12 games. By taking the vital wickets of Abhishek and Kishan on Monday, he gave LSG a chance to win.

“Rathi, our bowler, has undoubtedly improved for us this season. It was impressive to watch him bowl like that. One of the good things is Rathi. As a team, there are a lot of things we need to keep working on to get better and better,” Pant added.