RCB Vs LSG, IPL 2026: Rishabh Pant Retires Hurt After Facing Just Three Balls - Here's Why

Rishabh Pant had to retire hurt after facing just three balls in match 23 of Indian Premier League 2026 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The LSG skipper was hit in the elbow by Josh Hazlewood in the fifth over at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Pant came in to bat after Aiden Markram was dismissed bizarrely, turning his bat face too early to spoon a simple catch to cover. After swinging and missing for his first two deliveries, Pant was struck on the elbow by a short one from Hazlewood.

ALSO READ: RCB Vs LSG Live Score

The southpaw was in pain and the team physio entered the scene immediately. Pant had to walk off the field, in obvious discomfort. He got a pat on the back from Hazlewood along the way.

Earlier, RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first against LSG. The hosts went with a solitary change, replacing Jacob Duffy with fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood. LSG went in with an unchanged playing XI.

RCB Vs LSG, IPL 2026: Playing XIs

Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav

LSG Impact Subs: Manimaran Siddharth, George Linde, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Mayank Yadav

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar

RCB Impact subs: Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan, Mangesh Yadav