New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant felt even a total of 228 wasn’t insurmountable after their six-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026.
A combined contribution of Mitchell Marsh (44), Nicholas Pooran (63), Aiden Markram (31 not out) and Himmat Singh’s unbeaten 40 took LSG to a healthy 228 for five.
But Mumbai overhauled that score with eight balls to spare as half-centuries from Rohit Sharma (84) and Ryan Rickelton (83) blasted 143 runs for the opening wicket in 10.5 overs to set up the home team’s victory.
“The way we started, I think we should have gotten more runs. Definitely the boys played freely, but in the end, I think they (MI) bowled well because they are used to these conditions, for sure,” Pant said after the match.
“Definitely, we were short by 10-15 runs because it was a 220-230 wicket for sure. And the way we started, we had that edge over them. But at the same time, on a wicket like this, you can’t blame bowlers all the time.”
Luck needed
It was LSG’s seventh defeat in nine matches that kept them at the foot of the 10-team standings while Mumbai remained just a slot above them with six points from three wins in 10 matches.
With their win, Mumbai ended a three-match losing run.
Pant hoped they could still make it to the play-offs though he accepted that they have to have luck on their side for it to happen.
“They’ve (LSG bowlers) been doing a fantastic job for us. So I definitely can’t say much to them, for sure. I think we need some good luck. That’s the only thing I’m going to say. I think a lot of blessing is going to work around it. And it’s going to take some more effort from us, for sure,” he added.