Rishabh Pant flops in LSG's first home game of IPL 2025; Lockie Ferguson off to a decent start with PBKS

Rishabh Pant flopped with the bat in his first home game as Lucknow Super Giants captain while Lockie Ferguson got his journey with the Punjab Kings off to a decent start in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday. LSG wicketkeeper-captain Pant, the most expensive player in IPL history worth Rs 27 crore, was dismissed for 2 off Glenn Maxwell’s bowling in the first match of the season at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium.

Pant had been dismissed for a six-ball duck in Lucknow’s opening game of the season against Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam. And against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pant could only manage a run-a-ball 15 in his team’s chase of the 191-run target set by the ‘Orange Army’.

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Given the massive amount that the franchise had spent to buy Pant in the mega auction in November after the keeper-batter parted ways with Delhi Capitals, it might not be long before owner Sanjiv Goenka has a stern conversation with the 27-year-old, much like the one he had with KL Rahul when he was leading the franchise.

Despite Pant’s flop show, LSG managed to post a competitive 171/7 on the board after they were invited to bat by PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer, who briefly had become the most expensive player in the IPL at Rs 26.75 crore before getting overtaken by Pant.

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Ferguson begins journey with fifth IPL franchise

For the Kings, Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/43 while New Zealand pacer Ferguson collected 1/26 from three overs in his maiden appearance for what is his fifth IPL franchise, castling LSG opener Aiden Markram (28 off 18).

The Kiwi pacer replaced Afghan seam-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, who had conceded 29 runs from two overs in PBKS’ opening game of the season – against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.

Ferguson was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru last season, and had also represented Kolkata Knight Riders in two different stints (2019-21 and 2023). He had represented the defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in their second and final season in 2017 and was also part of the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans that won the IPL on debut in 2022.