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Rishabh Pant’s step to bowl first on the Hyderabad pitch did raise eyebrows but his bowlers ensured SRH didn’t go past the 200-run mark.
Rishabh Pant got a big hug from Sanjiv Goenka after LSG beat SRH (Picture credit: X)
Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka, who was seen on Monday engaging in some serious discussion with skipper Rishabh Pant after their one-wicket defeat to the Delhi Capitals, gave a tight hug to the latter after their emphatic win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.
Last year, Lucknow suffered a loss to Hyderabad, which sparked a strong reaction from Goenka, who had an animated chat with then-skipper KL Rahul.
The relationship between the duo soured after the much-criticised scene in 2024, before the former parted ways with the team ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction four months back.
Pant’s step to bowl first on the Hyderabad pitch did raise eyebrows after Hyderabad had smacked a massive 286 in their opening match against the Rajasthan Royals batting first.
The bowlers, led by Shardul Thakur, proved Pant’s call right as they restricted Hyderabad to 190/9 in 20 overs.
Goenka could not keep calm after the game as he gave Pant a tight hug. Team mentor Zaheer Khan couldn’t stop smiling while looking at the scene.
Pant, Goenka and Zaheer then shared a small chat before the proceedings headed to the post-match presentation.
Pant admitted that it was a massive sigh of relief for him, having bagged his first victory as Lucknow skipper.
“Big relief, but as a team, we talk about the process. It’s not about getting too high when you win and not about getting too low when you lose,” Pant said while speaking at the post-match presentation.
Here is a picture of the heartfelt moment between Pant and Goenka:
“As a team, we can’t focus on uncontrollables. My mentor said focus on controllables, and that is what I did,” Pant said.
It was Pooran’s whirlwind 70 that powered Lucknow to chase down the target in the 17th over and now find themselves on second on the points table, with two points from as many games and a net run rate of 0.96.
“I think we just want to give freedom to him. You’ve got to give someone the charge when he is batting well and he has batted brilliantly for us,” Pant said.