Pant woes continue as Lucknow lose to Punjab in IPL / Photo: ARUN SANKAR - AFP
Pant woes continue as Lucknow lose to Punjab in IPL
Rishabh Pant again struggled to a low score as his Lucknow Super Giants team slumped to a fourth defeat in five IPL games, losing by 37 runs to the Punjab Kings on Sunday.
Opener Prabhsimran Singh struck 91 off 48 balls to steer Punjab to 236-5, helped by several impressive cameos at the Kings' second home in Dharamsala.
Arshdeep Singh then returned brilliant figures of 3-16 as Lucknow could only make 199-7 in reply. Pant fell for a 17-ball 18 in another failure for the India star.
Pant, who was snapped up by LSG for a record price of $3.21 million in the November auction, could not find any fluency during his stay despite hitting two fours and one six.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has mustered only 128 runs from 10 innings this season.
Lucknow sit seventh in the table, four points outside the fourth and final play-off spot with three games remaining.
Punjab climbed to second behind leaders Royal Challengers Bengaluru after their seventh win of the campaign.
Lucknow were never in their chase after left-arm seamer Arshdeep struck twice in the space of four balls in his second over to send back Mitchell Marsh, for a duck, and then Aiden Markram, for 13.
He dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for six before Pant attempted to rebuild in a scratchy innings that was ended by Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai.
Omarzai soon sent back David Miller for 11 to put Lucknow in further trouble at 73-5.
Ayush Badoni, who top-scored with 74, and Abdul Samad, who hit 45, put on a valiant stand of 81 but could only reduce the margin of defeat.
Earlier, Australia's Josh Inglis, who hammered a quick 30, and Prabhsimran lay the foundations for Punjab's imposing total with a second-wicket partnership of 48.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer took charge after Inglis' departure and made 45 in a partnership of 78 with Prabhsimran, who survived a dropped catch by Pooran when on 21.
Leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi denied Prabhsimran a century, but Shashank Singh, who struck an unbeaten 33, and Marcus Stoinis, who made 15 not out off five balls, ensured Punjab finished strongly.
E.Rizzo--MJ
