Former India batter Manoj Tiwari questioned Rishabh Pant‘s captaincy and decision-making after Lucknow Super Giants slumped to their seventh defeat of IPL 2026 on Monday. Facing an equally struggling Mumbai Indians side, LSG suffered a shocking six-wicket loss, despite posting a massive 228/5. MI rode on blistering knocks from openers Ryan Rickelton (84) and Rohit Sharma (83) to chase down the target with eight balls to spare. It proved to be a forgettable outing for the LSG bowlers, with the likes of Mohammed Shami and Mohsin Khan conceding heavily.
The lone bright spot for LSG was Prince Yadav, who maintained an economy rate of 8, giving away just 24 runs in three overs. Highlighting this, Tiwary criticized Pant for not deploying other bowlers with similar plans and questioned his tactical awareness. He even pointed out that pacer Arjun Tendulkarwho has been practicing yorkers in the nets, could have been tried in the match.
He even name-dropped MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, stating that Rishabh Pant’s lack of tactical awareness places him well behind the great IPL captains.
“Pant is also losing out on tactical moves. In the match against Mumbai, Prince Yadav was the only economical bowler, and that was because he was executing yorkers. As a captain, you should have told the other bowlers to follow that plan. I even saw videos on social media, posted by LSG, showing Arjun Tendulkar bowling yorkers in the nets. So Pant could have brought him in. This is where MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are different as captains,” he said on. cricbuzz.
Arjun Tendulkar, the former MI player and son of Sachin Tendulkaris yet to make his debut for LSG after being traded ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
Meanwhile, Pant scored 15 off 10 balls in the match and later admitted that his lack of contribution with the bat may have affected the result.
“Definitely, the way we started, I think we should have gotten more runs. But definitely some good signs. Can’t say that. Definitely the boys played freely, but in the end, I think they bowled well because they are used to these conditions, for sure,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.
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