New Delhi: Ritha PantLucknow Supergiants’ humiliating defeat at the hands of Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2026 opener raised questions about his role in the first innings.Pant’s exit ended with a strange outing in the third innings. Direct drive from Mitchell Marsh Deflected onto the stumps by Mukesh Kumar, Pant was caught at the non-striker’s end. The LSG captain, who has scored seven of nine goals, was visibly frustrated after his unfortunate dismissal.
Looking back on that moment, Pant said: “I think the best way to recover from it is to ignore it. I think that’s the best way to look ahead because you know something like that, you have no control over, but thinking about it definitely puts you at a disadvantage.” He also admitted that the team has struggled to form partnerships: “Look, it’s always the case but you know the way we bat, we can’t form partnerships for the long term.”Pant reaches the top and breaks the established combination Aiden Markram Marsh raised his eyebrows. Talking about whether he will continue as opener, he said, “I think it’s a 50-50 decision but we’ll see. But it will definitely see me at the top.”Despite Markram starting the match and Marsh scoring 35 runs, LSG’s batting was poor throughout, scoring just 141 runs in 18.4 overs. Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan picked up three wickets each while Kuldeep Yadav got the crucial breakthrough.
Rizvi, Stubbs win for Washington, D.C.
Chasing 142, Delhi found themselves in trouble before Sameer Rizvi (70*) and Tristan Stubbs (39*) put on a match-winning 119-run stand. Rizvi’s fearless batting turned the game around as DC chased down the target in 17.1 overs.With the opening experiment failing and LSG batting at fault, Pant now faces a crucial decision regarding his future position.
