Rishabh Pant Breakになります

Rishabh Pant has enormous pressure on his shoulders. Not only is he leading a franchise, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), whose owner is heavily involved and has issues with the last captain, KL Rahul, but Pant was also acquired for a record-breaking Rs 27 crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.

Expectations

He’s come to a franchise that reached back-to-back playoffs in 2022 and 2023. Yes, LSG couldn’t make the final four back last year but that’s forgotten now. There has been an overhaul, and LSG broke the bank on Pant, who they want to be captain and get them their maiden IPL trophy.

Form

Has the price tag affected Pant? The wicketkeeper’s performance in the two games would suggest so. Pant scored 0 (6) against his old franchise, the Delhi Capitals. Against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, when all his teammates were firing, he was struggling. Of all the players that scored more than ten runs, Pant had the worst strike rate in the match, 15 (15).

Pant needs to get the monkey off his back. And he’ll want to do that against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on April 1. But it may not be that easy. Since that successful return in the IPL 2024, Pant has been hit and miss. More miss than hit.

Record & challenges against PBKS

He didn’t do well in the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. And his last white-ball before the IPL 2025 started was in August. Given his talent, you’d expect Pant to come good. But that’s where he hits another snag. His record against PBKS is horrendous and that’s underselling it.

Rishabh Pant stats vs Punjab Kings

Another thing that would go against him is that his former DC teammate Shreyas Iyer is the new PBKS captain. Same goes for Ricky Ponting who worked with Pant as DC head coach for 7 years and is now with Punjab. Both of them would know how to prepare for him. They’ll be privy to his strength and weaknesses.

They also have experienced bowlers like Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal. Pant has a tall task ahead of himself but he’s got the skill to overcome it all.