In the pivotal moment of a thrilling match against the Delhi Capitals in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, captain Rishabh Pant of the Lucknow Super Giants chose not to linger on the lost stumping chance.

Ashutosh Sharma (66*) emerged from the shadows, emerged as DC’s dazzling hero in armor, and faced the soaring Super Giants on his own. Ashutosh made LSG shudder and reduced the equation to six in the last six deliveries, despite the odds being against him.

To end the nervous situation, Pant came up with a creative solution and gave Shahbaz Ahmed the ball. Mohit Sharma walked down the crease on the first ball, missed the line, and the ball smacked his pad.

Pant utilized the DRS for lbw but was unable to stump Mohit. The Capitals sighed with relief as the review revealed the ball had missed the stumps.

Mohit put Ashutosh on strike after pushing the ball for a single. The 26-year-old pulled a narrow one-wicket triumph from the jaws of loss by smoking the ball for a soaring maximum over Shahbaz’s head.

LSG supporters concentrated on the stumping moment while DC felt schadenfreude. According to Pant, that is a typical scenario that might occur during a cricket match.

“This game is undoubtedly influenced by luck, and there was a potential for stumping if it had slipped past Mohit Sharma’s pads. However, similar incidents do occur during cricket matches. “You need to play better cricket instead of concentrating on these things,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.

The visitors breathed fire to amuse the audience, despite the fact that the odds were in DC’s favor and LSG was sent to bat. The main sources of fans’ pleasure were Nicholas Pooran (75) and Mitchell Marsh (72).

Pooran was a nightmare for the Capitals spinners, and Marsh played with the hosts. Their outstanding performance set the stage for LSG to surpass 200 runs.

Pant was prepared to focus on the game’s good aspects despite the final failure and underlined the need of consistently mastering the fundamentals.

Our top-order hitters, in my opinion, performed really well, and the score on this wicket was respectable. Our collective goal is to learn from each game and find the good aspects of each one. The more fundamentals we get right, the better things will be for us later on. Although we thought it was a decent pitch to bat on, we took early wickets. More often than not, we have to continue performing the fundamentals correctly,” he said.

From the minute the Capitals started chasing a formidable 210-run mark, momentum fluctuated. The Super Giants’ accurate line and menacing lengths shook the Capitals’ top-order.

The struggling Capitals almost lost their triumph as they stumbled to 65/5 in the seventh over. DC needed something unique, an unexpected event to reignite the waning light.

Ashutosh penned the last line of the suspenseful pursuit, but DC had a few useful alliances that helped them along the way. Axar Patel and Faf du Plessis’s counterattacking 43-run partnership, Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh’s 45-run partnership, and Ashutosh and Vipraj Nigam’s 55-run partnership (39), all quietly helped DC win.

“I believe they had a few successful collaborations. One each with Ashutosh, Stubbs, and another man (Vipraj Nigam). In my opinion, Nigam performed well and denied us the game. I believe we could have done the fundamentals well, but there was plenty for the bowlers. There are many good things to learn from this game, but we felt the strain and are still getting used to it,” Pant said.