LUCKNOW, May 29 -- Having ended a disappointing season for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with a fine unbeaten ton against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Tuesday, skipper Rishabh Pant is a relieved man. Though Pant's second IPL ton - his first this season - failed to take LSG home who were undone by a stunning assault from RCB skipper JItesh Sharma, it turned out to be a big confidence booster for Team India's vice-captain ahead of the Test series in England, starting June 20. His post-match comments indicated Pant's relief who has endured a horrid season with the bat, besides failing to lead LSG to the top-four. "Just want to switch off for a few days, not think about cricket and then the England series is coming up and just preparing for that in a good frame of mind," the 27-year-old said. Pant hit his stride early against RCB, smashing a six and two boundaries off Yash Dayal. That 18-run over set him perfectly on course as he ended with 118* in 61 balls with the help of 11 fours and eight sixes. His celebration on reaching the ton left the crowded Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in raptures. Coming into the game against RCB, Pant had scored just 151 runs in 13 games, averaging 13.73 with a strike rate of 107.09. No one had expected such a turnaround as he eventually finished the season with 268 runs at an average of 24.45. Many believed that a few such innings early in the season could have changed the fortunes of LSG, who finished seventh this time too, exactly where they had ended their campaign the last season. Before this, LSG had back-to-back semi-final finishes after debuting as a new franchise in 2022 under the leadership of KL Rahul. In fact, LSG was hit by injuries to their pacers at the start of the season. Mohsin Khan was ruled out for the entire season, whereas tearaway quick Mayank Yadav could make only a brief return before a recurring back injury ruled him out again. Unsold at the mega auction, Shardul Thakur was the last-minute entrant. Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni kept shouldering LSG's batting throughout the season. Apart from his half century against Chennai Super Kings, Pant copped a lot of critifcism for his batting throughout the season. "Eventually you got to play 40 overs of good cricket. 20 overs will definitely not save you in a T20 game, and that's our story. There were a lot of injury concerns before the tournament, that's something that hurt us going through the season," Pant summed up LSG's run in the season. He also said that he was trying his best to live up to expectations in every match. "I was feeling well with each and every match but sometimes it just doesn't come off. Today, I made sure that if I am starting well, I should make a big one. Like all experienced players do, learning from the best always," he added. "Whenever you get a start, try to make it as big as possible. I was trying to play the field, how they were going to bowl, that was something I kept in mind. Playing through the line and looking for the areas and the gaps, and kept it very simple," he said, adding, "Played every ball with the same intensity and kept on playing with the same intensity throughout the innings."...