Rishabh Pant delivered one of his finest knocks of the IPL 2025 season, an unbeaten 118 off 61 balls, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), but the performance wasn’t enough to secure Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) a win in their final league match of the season. Despite posting a commanding total of 227, LSG fell short as RCB chased it down in just 18.4 overs to qualify for the Qualifiers. Speaking after the loss, Pant admitted that LSG’s campaign was defined by their inability to sustain momentum across both innings. "Eventually, you have to play 40 overs of good cricket, 20 overs will definitely not save you in a T20 game, and that's been our story," he said. Pant, who struggled for runs throughout most of the season, said he was determined to convert a good start this time around. "Definitely, I was feeling well with each and every match," he said. "But sometimes, it just doesn't come off. But today, I made sure that if I'm starting well, I should make a big one, like all the experienced players do; learning from the best always - whenever you get a start, try to make it [as] big as possible." Also READ : Jitesh stars as RCB chase 228 to seal top 2 spot vs LSG "We’ve had chances, but we couldn’t hold on to them" While Pant’s personal milestone was a highlight, he admitted that LSG’s overall season was affected by injuries and a lack of consistency. Their bowlers, especially the young attack, struggled in the must-win game, conceding 230 with several errors under pressure. "There were lot of injury concerns before the tournament, you can see that that is something that hurt us going through the season," Pant explained. Also READ: Watch: Digvesh Rathi Tries Mind Games with Kohli, Ends Up Apologising Reflecting on his improved batting approach, the LSG skipper revealed how he changed his strategy: "I was trying to play the field, how they were going to bowl on this wicket, so definitely that [hitting straight] was something I kept in mind. Just playing through the line, just looking for the gaps, kept it very simple, and played every ball with the same intensity throughout the innings." Despite the disappointing finish, Pant chose to highlight individual positives with the ball over the season. "There have been some special bowling performances also," he said. "Digvesh Rathi is one of them, Avesh [Khan] bowled some crucial overs. Akash Singh and Akash Deep also did. Like I said, we have been getting chances, but we wouldn’t be [weren’t] able to maintain it for a longer period of time and that is just costing us the match." LSG ended the league stage in seventh place with six wins and eight losses, missing out on qualification for the second consecutive season.