The Bishnoi over that Pant left out 'a major point' in LSG's loss to CSK

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) legspinner Ravi Bishnoi doesn't know why he didn't get a fourth over against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) despite returns of 3-0-18-2, but feels the captain, Rishabh Pant, would have had his reasons.

LSG were defending 166 at home against CSK, but fell short after a rare off-day for Nicholas Pooran as Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni finished the job with three balls to spare by taking down LSG's pace bowlers in the death overs.

"I didn't really talk [to Pant] about it, but I went to the wicket a couple of times [to check] and I think he had plans in place he wanted to execute," Bishnoi said at the press conference after the game. "In such situations, the captain is better placed, and he keeps wicket, too, so he understands things better. According to me, he took the decision he thought was better.

"He was clear in his mind and it's better in such tense situations that the captain thinks with a clear mind."

Bishnoi had dismissed Rahul Tripathi and Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth and 13th overs respectively, and nine of his 18 balls had been dots. He didn't bowl his fourth, but the less experienced Digvesh Rathi and part-time spinner Aiden Markram finished their quotas.

"There was a lot of time when I thought about bowling him [Bishnoi] that [fourth] over," Pant said after the game. "But we discussed with a lot of players and just couldn't let him bowl. We thought let's take it deeper, and that didn't happen for us today."

Rathi and Markram had finished bowling in tandem by the 15th over when CSK needed 56 runs from 30 balls, and Dhoni had just joined Dube. Dube's presence, and his reputation as a six-hitter off spin, might have forced Pant's hand.

At the ESPNcricinfo studio, it was a major point of debate, with Abhinav Mukund saying the game was lost on that decision, and Wasim Jaffer calling it "a major point" for LSG going down.

"I know Dube was batting, but Dube couldn't get hold of him [Bishnoi] before that anyway. And he has that googly," Ian Bishop said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. "I wonder why Rishabh didn't go for Bishnoi - 2 for 18 from three [overs] just stands out like a beacon in all of that."

"If you got a wicket there, and you've got Jamie Overton to come, I felt it was very defensive to go for the faster-bowler strategy at that point, because you are actually thinking that you didn't want Dube to get a couple of sixes off Bishnoi," Abhinav said. "This is something that you see in the IPL, or any form of cricket, where captains tend to sort of… they like a certain type of bowler because they are uncomfortable against it, and sometimes the converse also happens.

"As a left-hander, possibly Rishabh is thinking, 'I can smash Bishnoi out of the ground, so I don't want him to face off against Dube. ' Just a hypothetical theory I am planting here."

Whether that's what Pant had on his mind or not, he had got the ball changed after the 16th over and switched to his faster bowlers. "Bowling Bishnoi to Dhoni and Dube at that point wasn't a gamble because [with 44 needed in four overs] the way this game has gone, we didn't see a 20-run over," Abhinav said. "You were still in the game. It was the best time to make that call and then decide what you want to do after that."

But Pant stuck to his pace-bowling options, even though a lot of captains have turned to spin against Dhoni in the death overs, especially in CSK's last three chases.

Sanju Samson had given the 18th over to Maheesh Theekshana in Guwahati when CSK needed 45 from 18 and Theekshana conceded just six runs. Axar Patel bowled himself in the 17th over - which was his first that day - when CSK needed 72 from 18, and gave away just five runs. In CSK's last chase, Shreyas Iyer handed Yuzvendra Chahal the 17th over with 68 to win from 24 and he gave away just nine runs. In all these cases, Dhoni failed to hit a single boundary against the spinners.

Since IPL 2020, Dhoni has struck at only 94.23 against spin, with 14 fours and nine sixes in 243 balls.

To Pant, perhaps, the set Dube appeared a bigger threat. But once Dhoni got pace on the ball, he ended the 16th over, bowled by Avesh Khan with two consecutive fours, dispatched a Shardul Thakur slower delivery on the leg side for six even as one hand came off the bat, and hit his next ball, from Avesh, for four. The game tilted in CSK's favour when - with 24 required from 12 - Dube started Thakur's over with a four and six to the deep-third boundary and it turned out Thakur had also overstepped for the second ball.