Pant hurt again after awkward bounce
Rishabh Pant needed brief treatment after being struck on the nose while collecting a throw during the 10.4 over, with Mohsin Khan bowling. The ball hit the surface behind the stumps and rose awkwardly, catching him off guard. Teammates gathered as physio Patrick Farhart checked him. Pant looked in discomfort but was able to continue, suggesting no serious damage.
This is the second injury scare for Pant in the tournament. Earlier, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, he was hit on the elbow by a delivery from Josh Hazlewood while batting.
RR stumble despite brief Hetmyer counter
Rajasthan Royals slipped to 80 for 5 in 11 overs after being put in by Lucknow Super Giants at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Early blows from Mohammed Shami set the tone, and Mohsin Khan tightened the grip with 2 for 11. Shimron Hetmyer briefly countered with 22 off 18, including a six and two fours in one over off Mayank Yadav, but fell soon after to a leading edge.
Riyan Parag again struggled for fluency, and the middle order found scoring difficult on a slow surface. With Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira at the crease, Rajasthan need a late push to reach a workable total.
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi
Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Ayush Badoni, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Mayank Yadav
Impact Substitutes:
Lucknow Super Giants: Himmat Singh, George Linde, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Abdul Samad
Rajasthan Royals: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Yash Raj Punja, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande