Lucknow Super Giants’ captain Rishabh Pant and Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma during a the practice session ahead of their IPL 2026 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, May 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Punjab Kings’ Cooper Connolly and Prabhsimran Singh in action.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India’s stand-in captain Rishabh Pant at the toss before the start of the second Test cricket match between India and South Africa
| Photo Credit: PTI

Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after taking a wicket on day 1 of the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati on November 22, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

When Jasprit Bumrah bowls, batters’ individual agency is in a state of suspended animation. They can rarely choose what happens to them. Bumrah inevitably decides.

Friday at the Eden Gardens was one such day as the maverick pacer blew South Africa away with a mesmerising performance (five for 27) on a lively pitch with not-so-consistent bounce.

The 31-year-old’s third five-wicket haul at home – out of 16 overall – helped dismiss the visitors for 159 paltry runs. And by stumps on day one, India had reached 37 for one, with opener K.L. Rahul (13 batting, 59b, 2×4) and one-drop Washington Sundar (six batting, 38b) — who replaced B. Sai Sudharsan in the slot, in what is becoming a musical chair of sorts — keeping vigil.

The hosts did have one less thing to worry about, for star pacer Kagiso Rabada missed out because of a rib injury.

The day’s proceedings seemed like a cruel joke on Temba Bavuma’s men. India lined up with a four-pronged spin attack — for the first time since 2012 — comprising Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington and Axar Patel, only for the punch in the gut to come from Bumrah’s incredible sleight of hand.

In fact, South Africa prospered for an hour in the morning. After winning the toss, Aiden Markram (31, 48b, 5×4, 1×6) and Ryan Rickelton (23, 22b, 4×4) put on 57 convincing runs, with the former’s astonishing six off Axar, after walking down two steps, the standout shot.

But it proved brief, illusory, and in hindsight, conditional to Bumrah’s brilliance. First to go was Rickelton, who played inside the line and lost his off stump. In Bumrah’s next over, the speedster surprised Markram with a delivery that rose awkwardly, and it flew off the bat straight into Rishabh Pant’s safe hands.

Kuldeep, who toiled hard on an unresponsive pitch last week in Bengaluru in the India-A versus South Africa-A ‘Test’, found the Kolkata strip more to his liking. There was turn, and not of the slow variety, and both these facets played a part in his dismissal of Bavuma, caught sharply by Dhruv Jurel at leg-slip.

Wiaan Mulder (24, 51b, 3×4) and Tony de Zorzi (24, 55b, 1×4, 1×6) attempted to nurse the wounds and were successful for nearly 14 overs. But a moment’s rush of blood from Mulder, as he attempted a reverse-sweep off Kuldeep, proved fatal as he was adjudged leg-before.

Bumrah, who had bowled a superb first spell (7-4-9-2), returned for a second burst which read 5-0-14-1. He alternated between being a fiery expressionist and a subtle purveyor of the art of fast bowling as he mixed up searing yorkers with clever changes of pace.

de Zorzi was pinned to the crease and trapped in front, and Kyle Verreynne was toyed with and never allowed to settle. Mohammed Siraj took advantage of the softening up and duly removed Verreynne and Marco Jansen in the span of four balls.

It was not long before Bumrah applied the finishing touches by getting rid of Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj with some furious wicket-to-wicket bowling, eliciting a thunderous applause from the 36,000-odd fans present.

Scoreboard

South Africa 1st Innings: Aiden Markram c Pant b Jasprit Bumrah 31 Ryan Rickelton b Jasprit Bumrah 23 Wiaan Mulder lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 24 Temba Bavuma c Dhruv Jurel b Kuldeep Yadav 3 Tony de Zorzi lbw b Jasprit Bumrah 24 Tristan Stubbs not out 15 Kyle Verreynne lbw b Mohammed Siraj 16 Marco Jansen b Mohammed Siraj 0 Corbin Bosch lbw b Axar Patel 3 Simon Harmer b Bumrah 5 Keshav Maharaj lbw Bumrah 0 Extras (b 8, lb 4, w 2, nb 1) 15

Total (In 55 Overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-62, 3-71, 4-114, 5-120, 6-146, 7-147, 8-154, 9-159

Indian bowling: Bumrah 14-5-27-5, Siraj 12-0-47-2, Axar Patel 6-2-21-1, Kuldeep Yadav 14-1-36-2, Ravindra Jadeja 8-2-13-0, Washington Sundar 1-0-3-0.

India 1st Innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal b Marco Jansen 12 KL Rahul not out 13 Washington Sundar not out 6 Extras: (LB-2, NB-4) 6

Total: (For 1 wkt, 20 Overs) 37

Fall of Wickets: 1-18

South Africa bowling: Marco Jansen 6-2-11-1, Wiaan Mulder 5-1-15-0, Keshav Maharaj 5-1-8-0, Corbin Bosch 3-2-1-0, Simon Harmer 1-1-0-0.

Published – November 14, 2025 11:05 am IST

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka with LSG captain for the IPL 2025 Rishabh Pant and mentor Zaheer Khan at an event, in Kolkata, on January 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Dynamic keeper-batter Rishabh Pant was on Monday named the captain of Lucknow Super Giants for the upcoming IPL and he vowed to give his “200%” to win the team’s maiden title.

Pant was picked at the mega auction for an IPL record ₹27 crore by the franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka.

“I will give my 200%. That’s my commitment to you. I will try whatever is there in my power to repay the faith. I am really excited and looking forward to new beginning and new energy. And have a blast out there with lot of fun,” Pant told mediapersons after being unveiled as the new skipper.

“We start with new hope and aspirations. And most importantly, new confidence. I wanted to introduce you all to our new captain Rishabh Pant,” Goenka said.

This is Pant’s second stint as a leader in the IPL.

At his former franchise Delhi Capitals, the captaincy became a point of contention, leading the 27-year-old Pant to opt out of DC’s retention plans after unsuccessful negotiations.

Pant beat Nicholas Pooran to secure the top job after Rahul didn’t feature in the list of LSG’s retained players. LSG had retained Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ayush Badoni before the auctions.

Right after the auction, Goenka made a cryptic remark that the franchise wanted to keep players who put the team first ahead of their personal goals and milestones, which was construed as a dig at Rahul who often struggled to score at a brisk pace.

Asked about his new team going the distance in the IPL, Pant sounded optimistic.

“Definitely happy with the team. We have a mix of youth and experienced players. We have not been where we wanted to be… that’s the journey how we can take this franchise to newer heights.

Despite DC’s interest in keeping him, they were not fully committed to him leading the side, prompting Pant to re-enter the auction.

At the auction, they pipped Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG to get Pant for Rs 20.75 crore, eventually they had to raise their price to Rs 27 crore to outbid Delhi Capitals’ right-to-match card.

“I know it’s a new beginning for me, new franchise, new owner. The ideology of captaining the side doesnt change. We will add a lot of things which we will discuss with the management and will see how we would take this forward in a better way.” Speaking about his captaincy mantra, “I’ve learnt from a lot of captains, seniors. You don’t only learn from captains, a lot of senior players are also there.

“With Rohit bhai you learnt how to care of a player. If you give confidence and trust he will do things which you can’t imagine. That’s the kind of ideology we will have. We will have a clear communication and a never-say-die attitude.

“How far are you willing to take it. That’s the kind of character we are looking for in our team.” Pant, who had been with DC since 2016, was appointed captain in 2021 and led the team until 2023 before a near-fatal car accident in December 2022 had ruled him out.

Set to appear in their fourth season of the league, Goenka termed it an “important moment” for the team.

“We finished the first leg of three years, we started the process of rebooting and planning.” 

Rishabh Pant has confirmed his availability for Delhi’s next Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Rishabh Pant has confirmed his availability for Delhi’s next Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra in Rajkot from January 23 to 26. Pant, 27, hasn’t played for Delhi in India’s premier domestic First-Class competition since leading the side in the 2017-18 final against Vidarbha in Indore that the latter won.

“Pant is available for the next Ranji game. He will join the Delhi team directly in Rajkot,” Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley told The Hindu on Tuesday night.

The news comes after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) advised top cricketers to participate in the Ranji Trophy following India’s 3-1 loss to Australia in the five-Test series Down Under. Virat Kohli is also among Delhi’s probables for the upcoming fixture, but it is understood that there has been no communication from the star batter yet regarding his availability. The Ranji Trophy is resuming after a two-month gap in which the white-ball tournaments were held.  

On Tuesday, Rohit Sharma trained with the Mumbai team ahead of its clash against Jammu and Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy. While it is uncertain if Rohit will play the match, fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has made himself available. Shubman Gill is also available for Punjab, which faces Karnataka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Pant played all five Tests in Australia, scoring 255 runs at an average of 28.33. Having been excluded from India’s five-match T20I series against England, scheduled from January 22 to February 2, the wicketkeeper-batter will look to make an impact for Delhi.

After India’s loss in the final Test in Australia, coach Gautam Gambhir urged players to be available for domestic cricket.

“I would always like everyone to play domestic cricket,” Gambhir had said. “That is how much importance domestic cricket needs to be given. Not only one game. If they’re available and they have the commitment to play red-ball cricket, everyone should play domestic cricket. As simple as it can get. If you don’t give importance to domestic cricket, you will never get the desired players what you want in Test cricket.”

Rishabh Pant reacts while batting on day 1 of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney on January 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Having dealt with a gruesome car accident, a red cherry hurtling into his body is perhaps the least of Rishabh Pant’s worries. He battled hard against the Australian attack and was India’s top-scorer with a 40 in the fifth Test that began at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday (January 3, 2025).

Struck eight times on his torso, Pant competed hard and was one of the bright spots in a dreary Indian first innings. Reacting to the tough outing, he said: “Definitely it’s painful but sometimes you have to do the hard work for the team and that’s okay. I was not thinking about where I got hit but just played the ball to the best of my abilities.” Later he added: “I think this is the first time I have been hit so much.”

Being in proximity when Jasprit Bumrah and Sam Konstas exchanged words, Pant explained: “They wanted to waste some time. I feel that’s the reason. He had a conversation with Jassi (Bumrah). He said something. I didn’t hear. He wanted to waste some time so we don’t bowl one more over.”

Queried about his pitch-impressions, Pant replied: “It was a little bit tough pitch. The ball was doing off the wicket quite a bit. I wouldn’t say 185 is a par-score. But I think anything over 220-250 would be a par-score, but still a very competitive score because the way the ball is moving, there is a lot of help for the bowlers.”

And on the Washington Sundar dismissal, Pant said: “I feel whatever decision we make on the field, it has to stay with the on-field umpire. Until and unless it’s (evidence) so conclusive to change the decision, I think we should stay with the on-field umpire. Technology can be a little better I guess.”

Touch of emotion, says Pant

Rishabh Pant admitted to a touch of emotion within the ranks when news about Rohit Sharma missing the fifth Test spread. “He is our captain and obviously there will be some emotion. As for the decision, it was a management call so I was not part of that conversation so I can’t explain anything other than that,” Pant told the media here on Friday.

Asked for his inputs on Jasprit Bumrah as captain, Pant said: “Mostly his message is be positive all the time and don’t think about what has already happened, just give your best on the field. That’s what you want from your captain.”

Australia’s Travis Head celebrates his century on day 2 of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Adelaide on December 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

After a forgettable day for India at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday (December 7, 2024), bowling coach Morne Morkel turned up at the press conference for some fire-fighting. With a calm voice and a diplomat’s grace, the South African deftly handled the queries.

The first volley was about Mohammed Siraj’s needless send-off to centurion Travis Head and Morkel was ready: “We all know Siraj puts everything on the line, he is the kind of bowler, who will run in all day. There are some moments in a game. But I am sure off the field they will be the best of mates.”

Asked about India’s bowling in the second Test so far, Morkel offered his analysis: “Yesterday (Friday), the lines and lengths could have been better, there was some extra swing too. Thought they did well today (Saturday) morning before Travis Head played his innings. He put the bowlers under pressure but that’s the way he plays.”

And about Rishabh Pant’s approach at the batting crease, the bowling coach said: “Just like Head, this is the way Pant bats, that’s his approach. Always puts the bowlers under pressure. Seeing the scoreboard you won’t expect the kind of shot he played from the first ball but that is how he is.” Morkel also backed seamer Harshit Rana, who had a rough outing.