Ravi Bishnoi emerged as the most effective bowler for Lucknow Super Giants in their narrow five-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. The young leg-spinner delivered a tidy spell, claiming 2/18 in three overs with nine dot balls. Yet, surprisingly, he wasn’t handed his fourth over during the crunch moments of CSK’s chase of 167 — a move that left many puzzled.

As the game slipped from LSG’s grasp, CSK needed 56 runs from the final five overs and eventually chased it down with three balls to spare. Despite Bishnoi’s impressive figures and ability to create pressure in the middle overs, skipper Rishabh Pant opted to back his pace bowlers during the death overs — a decision that invited criticism.

Ravi Bishnoi, however, stood firmly behind his captain’s call, even though he admitted there wasn’t any direct conversation regarding the fourth over.

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“I didn’t really talk to Pant about it. I came to him twice, but maybe he had a different plan in mind,” Ravi Bishnoi said in the post-match press conference. “A captain views the game from behind the stumps and often sees things differently. I trust he took the decision he felt was best in that moment.”

Bishnoi had dismissed Rahul Tripathi in the ninth over and Ravindra Jadeja in the 13th, applying significant brakes on CSK’s momentum. But with Digvesh Rathi and part-timer Aiden Markram getting full quotas instead, fans were left scratching their heads.

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Rishabh Pant later addressed the call, saying, “We did consider giving Bishnoi that fourth over, but after discussing with the team, we decided to take the game deeper. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way today.”

Though the move didn’t work out, Bishnoi’s maturity in accepting the outcome without fuss was as impressive as his performance with the ball.