IPL 2025: Rishabh Pant accused of 'faking injury' to beat KKR

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets in a match of the IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Chasing a daunting victory target of 239 runs, KKR were once cruising at their home ground, riding on a fiery 73-run stand for the third wicket between Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer.

However, the breakthrough came at the end of the 13th over, with Shardul Thakur dismissing Rahane. As a result,  KKR eventually lost their momentum and lost half their sides at strategic time-out.

Fans' Allegations

Meanwhile, several fans on social media were quick to spot LSG captain Rishabh Pant's 'master plan' that helped their team script a second consecutive win this season. They speculated the break in momentum from KKR was down to Pant's act at the start of the 13th over. He was suddenly experiencing some back pain, leaving the LSG dugout nervous as the physio was called. Pant received treatment on the field, causing some delay in the game, before he decided to continue playing.

According to several fans, Pant 'faked' the injury only to break KKR's momentum. He had previously pulled off this tactic during the T20 World Cup final last June, which was followed by Heinrich Klaasen's game-changing dismissal.

Must Read: IPL 2025: What is ailing MI batter Rohit Sharma?

"KKR lost today's match because of an unsportive mischief of Rishabh Pant. KKR was going strong untill Pant's pretension of injury lying down on the ground. Then batters lost stance. Once Rohit Sharma said the same tactics was adopted by Pant against a foreign country," wrote a fan on social media account X (Earlier known as Twitter).

"Rishabh Pant is so good at the art of slowing the game down with an injury !! We’ve seen that before," tweeted another fan.