File photo of Rishabh Pant.© BCCI
Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant has endured yet another poor IPL season. The player was bought by the franchise at the auction in 2024 and has failed to live up to expectations in IPL 2025 and 2026. LSG paid a record sum of Rs 27 crore, making Pant the costliest player in IPL history, but the wicketkeeper-batter’s returns have been really poor. Lucknow finished in seventh spot last edition and are set to end in the bottom-two positions this year as well. Amidst all this, Pant has scored 269 runs in IPL 2025, and 286 runs in 13 matches this season.
Former India pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji highlighted the reason behind Pant’s failure. The former player said the southpaw should not bat in the top order and should rather come in the middle order.
Balaji also held LSG responsible for Pant’s lean patch with the bat, pointing out the shuffle in his batting order.
Despite playing two seasons for LSG, Pant has failed to find a permanent batting spot for himself.
“He is having tough seasons again and again as a captain. His position remains unsettled within the team. Sometimes he opens, other times he bats at No. 3, and then he bats in the middle order. LSG don’t play him in a settled position. He’s a quality left-hander, and he must play in the middle order. He’s much better suited there, and even for India, he has been effective only in the middle order,” Balaji said on Star Sports Tamil.
The former India fast bowler opined that Pant should come in to bat after 14 overs so that he could play all his unorthodox shots.
“Strike rate has been a challenge for him in the top order. When you bat up the order, you have to take risks to achieve a good strike rate, and that’s where his shortcomings have shown. He should come in only after 14 overs. Till 14 overs, they have a good batting lineup to address that period. After 14 overs, he can unleash all his unorthodox shots. But he definitely needs to step up,” he added.
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