Rishabh Pant, who was purchased for Rs 27 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, has been the campaign's biggest failure thus far. The elegant left-hander, who moved from the Delhi Capitals to the Lucknow Super Giants and smashed all salary records in the T20 competition, was anticipated to perform well. However, under Pant's captaincy, LSG lost both of their games versus DC. The fact that Pant batted at number seven on Tuesday, pushing players like Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, and David Miller ahead of him, was perplexing.
Pant batted at number seven or lower for the first time in his last 113 IPL innings. Twice before, in his first season in 2016, he had done so.
Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram gave Lucknow a spectacular start with a 87-run stand for the first wicket. However, the hosts could only score 159/6. By the time Pant walked out to bat only got two balls were left in the innings and the wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed for 0 in the final delivery by Mukesh Kumar. As he made his way back to the team's dugout, Pant was clearly upset.
And former Indian cricketers Anil Kumble and Suresh Raina felt the management's decision to send Pant out to bat this late was possibly the reason behind it.
"It's alright if you wanted to bat more freely under less pressure by coming in late, but this was way too late. The kind of frustration Rishabh is showing is evident that he was wronged. He probably wanted to bat higher. Was it his decision? Or was it coach Justin Langer's or maybe mentor Zaheer Khan's? Whose decision was it? Because he looked very frustrated," Kumble said on Star Sports.
Pant and Zaheer, the team's coach, even appeared to argue on the bench, with Raina speculating that it could possibly been about his batting position. "20 overs are left. You have to keep wickets and captain the side. You have to make your side win. He is discussing that with Zaheer Khan. 'I told you, send me in'," Raina said.
Although the result was undoubtedly frustrating, Kumble believes Pant reacted inappropriately. "You have to make peace in these situations. He is the captain. He has to take it in a positive way. Whatever frustration or anger he has, he should translate that into positive performance," said the legendary leg-spinner.
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