Former Indian cricketer slams Rishabh Pant over star player’s absence in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Scroll down to read the full story.
Published: May 5, 2026 8:00 PM IST
The match no. 47 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, was played between Suryakumar Yadav’s Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rishabh Pant’s Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium, where Mumbai Indians defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 6 wickets.
Manoj Tiwary raised doubts over Rishabh Pant’s captaincy and choices after Lucknow Super Giants suffered their seventh loss of Indian Premier League 2026. Even though LSG scored a big total of 228/5, they couldn’t defend it against Mumbai Indians.
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Mumbai Indians chased the target comfortably, thanks to strong knocks from Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma, who gave a powerful start. LSG’s bowlers had a tough day, as players like Mohammed Shami and Mohsin Khan gave away too many runs, making it an overall disappointing match for the team.
The only positive for Lucknow Super Giants was Prince Yadav, who bowled well and kept things tight, giving away just 24 runs in three overs at an economy of 8. Talking about this, Manoj Tiwary questioned Rishabh Pant’s captaincy, saying he could have used other bowlers in a similar way. He also mentioned that Arjun Tendulkar, who has been working on yorkers in the nets, could have been given a chance in the match.
Tiwary further compared Pant with experienced IPL captains like MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. He said that Pant still has a lot to learn, especially when it comes to reading the game and making better decisions on the field.
“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.
Arjun Tendulkar, who earlier played for Mumbai Indians and is also the son of Sachin Tendulkar, is still waiting to play his first match for Lucknow Super Giants after being traded before the IPL 2026 auction.
On the other hand, Rishabh Pant scored just 15 runs from 10 balls in the game. After the match, he admitted that he couldn’t contribute much with the bat, and that might have played a role in the team’s loss.
“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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