Rishabh Pant being stubborn, told to 'accept the fact that he is struggling' at LSG in IPL 2025: 'Feel sorry for him'
Ambati Rayudu has reservations about Rishbh Pant's stubbornness in IPL 2025.
When Rishabh Pant was bought for a whopping ₹27 crore at the IPL 2025 mega-auction last November, making him the costliest player in the history of the Indian Premier League, expectations were sky high. Here was India's star wicketkeeper batter, considered by many a legend in Tests already. With his place in ODIs and T20Is far from certain, IPL 2025 was believed to be the breakout year for Pant. A leadership role at Lucknow Super Giants, which boasted stars like Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and David Miller, was expected to elevate him to a superstardom like Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni – at least that's what LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka promised.
However, six months later, nothing of that sort has happened. In fact, Pant and his form have only dipped, and massively at that. Forget his returns in IPL 2025, which, as it is, cut a sorry figure with 128 runs from 11 matches, but the fact that LSG are placed at 7th, with their Playoff chances looking not too bright, makes the situation even more alarming. With every match, every defeat, Pant's shoulders have dropped, and his body language has gone from bad to worse. While he and Goenka may continue to put a smile on their faces, the bigger concern can't be overlooked. Former India batter Ambati Rayudu clearly reckons that the pressure is visible on Pant, and his stubbornness to not move up and down the order as per the requirement of the team has cost the captain dearly.
"I think, at this point in time, I'm feeling very sorry for him because he's not been changing his batting order or his approach," Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out.
"I think he's being pretty stubborn about how he wants to go about things. It's not working in his favour at the moment. It happens in this sport, to be very honest, and he is going through a very, very bad patch. It can happen to anybody. I just hope that he takes this learning and improves on it and doesn't become even more stubborn, but just accept the fact that he is struggling and start doing things a little differently and try and get better every day. That's all you can do."
Is Rishabh Pant suited in the middle order?
In Pant's defence, he has been flexible in batting at different positions. He has batted at No. 4, 6, 7 and even opened in one of the matches. But his fortunes have refused to change, with his highest score being 63. In the game where he batted at 7, Pant looked as if he was itching to bat higher; his animated chat with Zaheer Khan in the LSG dugout would support this argument. But the bigger question lies in whether Pant is suitable batting in the middle order, something Rayudu isn't too sure of.
"I think more than anything it's just the clarity of what he wants to do because Pant ideally for me is an opener in white-ball cricket, because in the middle order he has not been great. I know he loves playing in the middle but he doesn't have the batsmanship that is required or the skill set. Maybe he has the skillset, but not the mindset to execute that," he pointed out.
