Jaffer points out Pant’s lack of strike rotation after stodgy knock proved to be the telling difference in his side’s defeat.
Jaffer points out Rishabh Pant’s inability to rotate the strike effectively as the key factor in his underwhelming performance this IPL season.
While Pant did register his first 50+ score of the IPL this season, it came at a rather laborious pace. At one point, he was striking at a paltry run-a-ball, having a hard time against Noor Ahmed, playing 6 dots in a row. He played a total of 21 dot balls in his 49-ball 63.
While he did find his range towards the end, his snail-like pace in the middle overs meant that LSG finished their innings at least 20 runs short.
In the IPL season so far, Pant has the highest percentage of dot balls by any batsman playing 50 or more balls.
Jaffer’s post-match opinion
Wasim Jaffer is unsure whether Pant is actively trying to rotate the strike during his innings or not.
“I don’t know whether he looks to do that [rotate strike],” Jaffer said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. “Kohli is a master at that. He gets off strike so nicely as he can play all around. But Pant sometimes does get stuck, and that’s the issue. Then he goes for that big shot. I just feel he needs to get better at rotating strike as well.”
Jaffer also further stated that Pant’s reluctance to target the straighter boundary restricts him from accumulating more runs.
“I feel he never looks to hit straight,” Jaffer said. “He always looks to go towards the leg side, towards square leg, cow corner. He hit one straight six right towards the end [against CSK]. Otherwise, at the start of the innings, he was always looking to go towards the leg side, or that reverse scoop that he played, but that was the only thing.
“A lot of the time, the teams stack up the fielders in that area as well. So I think he needs to access down the ground a lot more.”
Conclusion
While Pant’s return to form is obviously a silver lining amidst the backdrop of the result, but the manner in which those runs came will be a major cause of concern.
With the backdrop of his astronomical price-tag along with his lean run in the shortest format, Pant has a very thin line and an even smaller margin for error this year.
While the likes of Markram, Marsh, Pooran, and Miller have so far alleviated the burden off the LSG skipper, there will come a time when the pressure will well and truly be on Pant.
We all know how destructive a player an on-song Pant is. LSG will be dearly hoping that version of him manifests itself sooner rather than later this season.