Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant offered a puzzling explanation as to why he opted to bowl the spinner in the final without having any overs in hand for his fast bowlers as Chennai Super Kings successfully chased down a target of 180 for the first time in the Indian Premier League since 2018.
CSK vs LSG: Scorecard | Highlighting
Pant also had an over from Shahbaz Ahmed, who finished with figures of 2-30 in three overs, but opted instead to give the final over to part-time bowler Aiden Markram. LSG eventually went down by five wickets in a must-win game Prashant Veer smashed 14 off the first two balls from the final. LSG needed to defend 10 runs in the last over.
“I thought so,” Pant said after the match when asked if he would leave the final to Shahbaz. “But with two lefties up the middle, it was tough. Aiden has done that for us a lot of times in the past. That was the call I had to make.”
Pant had the option of using Markram earlier when spin basher Shivam Dube was yet to come to the crease but instead stuck to his fast bowlers, leaving him with limited options at the end. Prashant Veer ends in style (screenshot from X)
CSK GOLD CHASE JINX
LSG posted a mammoth total of 203 when they batted first, thanks to a 33-ball 85 from Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Inglis and a 25-ball 43 from Shahbaz at the death.
“The way we started, we would have liked to get more. But at the same time, we felt that close to 200-210 would be a good total. We knew that after the powerplay it was getting tough,” Pant added.
Chennai Super Kings last chased down a target of 180+ in 2018 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and since then the team has repeatedly failed to complete the big chase. However, jointly fastest fifties by Urvil Patelwhich included eight sixes, marked CSK’s chance to break their seven-year jinx.
“Urvil played a fantastic and unbelievable knock like Inglis for us,” Pant added.
Urvil ended up not staying till the end, scoring 65 off 23 balls, but CSK’s stuttering middle order ensured they crossed the line with balls to spare. This win means that CSK are now fifth in the points table while LSG have been officially eliminated from the play-off contention. CSK and LSG will face each other again in 4 days at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on 15th May.
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Published on:
10 May 2026 20:44 IST
