Lucknow, May 20 (IANS) Lucknow Super Giants batter Mitchell Marsh backed captain Rishabh Pant to come out strong in the last two matches of the season after having a forgettable campaign so far that resulted in their playoffs elimination for the second consecutive year.

Pant is experiencing his worst-ever IPL season with only 135 runs in 12 games so far. He has scored a single half-century in the season and his strike rate at 100 has been his lowest-ever in the tournament.

Pant’s only season where he amassed less than 200 came in 2016 when he made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils). His form has also impacted LSG’s chances to qualify for the playoffs.

With two matches left in the league stage, Marsh feels Pant will look to put up a performance in the remaining games.

“We know that he’s a fantastic player, highly skilled and highly talented, so he will be back, but yeah, hopefully the last two games.

“I think the time for reflection is probably after the season and for me personally just focus on trying to contribute to winning the next two games for our team and for our franchise. Like I said, the IPL is a beast of a tournament and the margins are really small,” Marsh said in the post-match press conference.

Pant just scored seven runs in their six-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad to put their playoffs hopes to rest.

“We lost a couple of close games throughout the season that now have come back to bite us, but yeah, it’s all about finishing off the season as strong as we possibly can now.

“People have talked about it, that obviously we came into the year with a reputation of being aggressive, and then the first game we made 280, and there was talk of that continuing on,” Marsh added.

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori acknowledged his team’s performance against LSG despite missing out on the playoffs spot.

“I think for us it’s just learning about conditions and understanding how we play in those certain conditions, and a few times we’ve been tripped up by them,” Vettori said.

“Probably (we) haven’t adapted as quickly as we want and played a game that wasn’t suited to those sort of wickets, so that’s the major learning, and today was a good example of that, that we could be aggressive in the power play, but then through those middle stages, we had to bat responsibility and take certain options, so I think that’s a really pleasing factor for us,” the veteran spinner added.

–IANS

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