Rishabh Pant tried but to no avail - IPL 2025 season to forget

Rishabh Pant was paid a whopping INR 27 crore to lead Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League 2025 season. He spent eight successful seasons with Delhi Capitals, but wouldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams that his association with a new franchise would turn out to be such a disastrous one. 

In 13 matches, he has managed 151 runs at an average of 13.72. He was made the most expensive buy in the IPL history and then was entrusted with the captaincy. But things didn’t work out as he would have expected. LSG’s main bowlers suffered injuries, and Rishabh Pant never got going with the bat. He was a vital cog in the middle phase of the innings. LSG consistently got starts at the top and Pant failed to capitalize. 

Rishabh Pant is known for his fearless and destructive brand of cricket. One glance at his batting style and one would assume that he is bound to succeed in T20 format. However, it hasn’t been the case so far. He has had decent numbers in the cash-rich league, over the years, but the Indian Premier League 2025 campaign proved to be a forgettable one. This is one season which the left-hander would never want to look back on. 

In 13 matches, he scored just a single half-century against Chennai Super Kings and if you keep that knock aside, he has scored 88 runs in 12 matches at an average of 8. He swept, but the ball went straight to the fielder. He got leading edges and mistimed balls to the deep, and reverse-swept - but to no avail. In the first four innings, he got out thrice on single digits. In a bid to find some runs under his belt, Pant opened the innings in the sixth game against Gujarat Titans. He scored 21 off 18 before getting out to Prasidh Krishna. 

His first half-century of the season came in the next game against Chennai Super Kings. The southpaw played a handy knock of 63 off 49 but LSG finished as the losing side. Nevertheless, Pant getting runs under his belt was a huge positive for them. But, his next three scores read: 3,0, and 4. 

"Keeping it simple and not thinking about it too much. In a season like this, where things are not going your way, you're going to start questioning yourself as a player - that's not something you want to do. When the team is doing well, you've got to think about that," Pant told the host broadcaster following another lackluster knock against MI in the 45th match of IPL 2025. 

Every batter faces a lean run at some point in his career. Pant has had a tough outing this season but it makes it more difficult when you are the captain of the team. When you aren’t getting runs with the bat, that inevitably impacts your decision making and the LSG skipper was, perhaps, guilty of that throughout the season. 

In the first half of their season, his lean run was compensated by match-winning knocks from the top order. But, when the top-order faltered, the middle-order fatalities were exposed and LSG lost games in a cluster. Lucknow Super Giants needed him during the middle period of the innings and more so because most of their first-choice seamers were injured but the LSG skipper couldn’t find the touch that he was known for.