IPL 2025 | Pant says it was difficult to fill gaps due to injuries as LSG bow out of playoffs race

Lucknow: Captain Rishabh Pant on Monday admitted it was difficult for his side to fill the void created by the absence of key bowlers as Lucknow Super Giants bowed out of the race to Indian Premier League playoffs here.

LSG's six-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad here knocked them out of reckoning for a top-four finish, with the Pant-led side enduring a demanding campaign from their bowling squad which was stretched thin.

"Definitely it could have been one of our best seasons but coming into the tournament we had a lot of gaps, injuries and as a team we decided to not talk about that, but it became difficult to fill those gaps for us,” Pant told the broadcaster after their loss to SRH here.

LSG began the IPL with injuries to Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep and Mayank Yadav.

While they signed Shardul Thakur after the season began and the likes of Avesh and Akash returned, Mayank could only feature in a couple of games before being ruled out due to an injury again.

"The way we planned the auction, if we would have had the same bowling.. but this is cricket, sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don't, we take pride in the way we played and take the positives from the season than the negative side."

"We have a strong batting line up, have enough firepower and that is the biggest positive for the season," said Pant, who himself endured a horror season as a batter.

Pant said LSG found it difficult to keep up with the other teams as the race to playoffs heated up.

“The first half of the season we played really well but the second half it became tougher and tougher to catch up with the teams on the brighter side," he said.

"(Digvesh) Rathi has come up nicely for us, his first season, the way he bowled, he is one of the positives, but you need to keep improving yourself and get better and better as the seasons go,” he recalled among the positives.

SRH’s win was set up by India opener Abhishek Sharma, who smacked six sixes and five fours to make 59 off only 20 balls. Sharma credited having a clear plan for his success.

“If we (had) batted first, I might have had other plans but chasing such a total we had a clear plan. If you ask any player who has been doing well for the team, chasing 200 plus something you should be able to win the powerplay.”

“I wanted to express myself and if I do well, I know the team is gonna do well as well. It was the same plan I had in international cricket as well. Just express myself and knock it around,” Sharma added.

Sharma said it was important to take responsibility as an international player. “You have to take the responsibility as an international player. The plan was same as in the international side. If it is (opportunity) there on the first ball, I had to go for it,” he said.