Bishnoi defends Pant's bowling decisions at the death

During the second timeout, the Lucknow Super Giants congregation had to make a choice. MS Dhoni walked out with CSK needing 56 off the last 30 balls and Ravi Bishnoi, who bowled a stirring spell in the middle-phase, still had one more over to bowl. Pant turned to his pacers for the death overs - a call that backfired on the night. Bishnoi could have received another over, which is a valid argument. At that point, Shivam Dube wasn't striking the ball too well - he was on 17 off 20 - and had faced just two deliveries from Bishnoi, both full and outside his hitting arc, yielding only a single run. Dhoni, despite his death-overs prowess, carried a heavy spin baggage in the format. He had faced 34 spin deliveries this season and scored just 34 runs with 15 dot balls before this match. He had, on the other hand, finished with 70 off 37 against the pace. In the 20 minutes following that strategic timeout, this number jumped to 96 off 48 - exactly double the scoring rate he had managed against spin. "I once had the thought of him bowling that over, which was his fourth. We discussed it with a lot of players and just couldn't let him bowl. We thought we were going to take it deeper, and that just didn't happen for us for today," Pant revealed at the post-match presentation. The decision stemmed from a fear that one over of spin-hitting could break an evenly-poised game, but it might still have been worth the gamble despite a proven spin-hitter in the middle. Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur were taken apart in the 16th, 17th, and 19th overs, which massively tilted the game in CSK's favour. Bishnoi, however, defended his captain, saying he backed what he felt was the better option. "I came to the wicket twice, but maybe he had some plans in mind. He probably wanted to execute something else... according to me, a captain can see better and from behind the stumps, he can understand the situation better. Bishnoi stated after the defeat, "So according to me, he took the decision that felt better to him." "No, nothing like that [talk about the fourth over]. He knew exactly what he needed to do. In a tense situation, it is better for a captain to think from his point of view so he took what was the better decision," he added.