Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant ended up at the centre of a light-hearted, slightly awkward moment during the toss for LSG’s IPL 2026 match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. The incident involved commentator Ian Bishop and the question of why senior pacer Mohammed Shami was not included in the playing XI.
Rajasthan Royals’ stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal won the toss and chose to bowl first. For RR, regular skipper Riyan Parag missed the game due to a hamstring injury picked up in the previous outing. Ravindra Jadeja was also unavailable, with the team citing that he is currently dealing with “some niggles.” To balance the XI, Rajasthan made three changes: Sandeep Sharma, Sushant Mishra and Lhuan-dre Pretorious were brought into the side.
Lucknow, meanwhile, shuffled their lineup twice. Mohsin Khan came in to replace Shami, while Ayush Badoni replaced Aiden Markram in the XI. During the toss, Pant confirmed that Shami had been left out, but when Bishop pressed for the reason behind the pacer’s omission, the exchange quickly became confusing.
This is how the back-and-forth played out:
- Pant: “Shami is not playing, Mohsin is playing”
- Bishop: “What’s the issue with Shami?”
- Pant: “Yeah”
- Bishop: “What’s the issue with Shami?”
- Pant: “Mohsin”
- Bishop: “No, what’s the issue with Shami?”
- Pant: “(seemingly puzzled)”
- Bishop: “Who is out?”
- Pant: “Shami is out, Mohsin is playing”
- Bishop: “Ya, I’m asking…”
- Pant: “Aiden is out, Badoni is in”
- Bishop: “Okay, we can leave it there”
- Pant: “(nods his head)”
The clip spread rapidly across social media, with viewers amused by Pant’s apparently muddled responses and Bishop’s repeated attempts to get a clear explanation regarding Shami’s exclusion.
On the tournament standings, Rajasthan arrived in the contest placed fifth in the points table, while Lucknow Super Giants were already out of the playoff contention.
