Rishabh Pant made sure he didn’t mince words after Lucknow Super Giants extended their IPL 2026 misery with a fourth straight loss. The side fell by 40 runs to the Rajasthan Royals at Ekana Stadium, and the defeat stretched to a seventh consecutive setback at the same venue—matching the third-worst such run in IPL history. Even so, Pant still found room for a bit of humour during the post-match conversation with presenter Simon Doull, slipping in a cheeky remark as the chat wrapped up.
There was plenty of talk beforehand about Ekana being a ground that favours teams chasing since 2023, but that narrative didn’t help Lucknow’s cause. LSG were chasing a modest target of 160, yet the batting unit struggled to gain traction and ultimately folded for 119 with two overs remaining. The bowling department had given the innings a strong structure—Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav doing their jobs impressively to set the hosts up—only for the batting response to fall short when it mattered most.
In the aftermath, a visibly disappointed Pant spoke candidly to Doull, initially not meeting his eyes. “I think it is difficult to explain,” Pant said. “Our batting is letting us down. We have to look for answers within. We could have taken more time, but I’m not making excuses. Our bowlers did a fantastic job, but our batting let us down.”
Pant then tried to steer the focus toward what Lucknow could do next, stressing that the group must keep its energy levels up for the second half of the season. “We still want to look at the positives. We know we have the firepower and we want to believe in it,” he added.
Doull’s thanks for the chat came, but Pant returned the gesture in his own way—light-hearted and quick. “Thank you for being soft,” he said, prompting a smile from the former New Zealand cricketer.
For all his insistence that the team needed to regroup, Pant’s own dismissal also underlined how fragile the batting looked. He went for an awkward sweep-cum-hoick, losing the momentum that had been provided by the bowlers’ strong groundwork. Pant was dismissed for a duck, with Ayush Badoni and Aiden Markram also departing without making an impact, and once the middle overs began to slip away, Lucknow never truly recovered.
Mitchell Marsh did offer some resistance, striking a 41-ball 55, but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome. With yet another defeat piling pressure, Lucknow remained ninth on the points table.
