Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) legspinner Ravi Bishnoi did not know why he didn't get a fourth over despite having figures of 3-0-18-2, but backed Rishabh Pant by saying that the captain was best placed to take such decisions, and he must have had plans in place. LSG were defending 166 at home against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) but failed in their attempt after Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni finished the job with three balls to spare by taking down LSG's pace bowlers in the death overs.
Bishnoi had dismissed Rahul Tripathi and Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth and 13th overs respectively, and nine of his 18 balls had been dots. What was telling was that the more inexperienced Digvesh Rathi and part-time spinner Aiden Markram finished their four overs each, but Bishnoi never got his.
"I didn't really talk [to Pant] about it, but I went to the wicket a couple of times 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."
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. Avesh Khan had three overs left at the time, Shardul Thakur two and Bishnoi only one. Pant gave Avesh the 16th over that went for 12 runs in dewy conditions.
LSG then asked for a ball change - as per the new rule that has come in this IPL - but Pant never gave the ball to Bishnoi, and stuck to his pace-bowling options, even though a lot of captains have been seen to bowl spin to Dhoni in the death overs to keep him quiet, 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. Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel gave himself the 17th over - which was his first that day - when CSK needed a very stiff 72 from 18, but he gave away just five runs. In CSK's last chase, Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain 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.
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Since IPL 2020, Dhoni has struck at only 94.23 against spin in the IPL, with 14 fours and nine sixes in 243 balls.
On Monday, Pant decided to bowl only pace to Dhoni and Dube in the end, perhaps with the idea of not bowling spin to Dube, who is known to belt sixes against them. But once Dhoni got pace on the ball, he ended the 16th over with two consecutive fours, dispatched a 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 titled heavily 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.
"There was 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."