Pant gets irate after constant questions over his poor run of form that saw him get dismissed for another low score vs MI.
Pant gets irate as questions around his poor form and lean run in terms of results continue to swirl around.
Citing his bad batting performance in the 2025 Indian Premier League is “not the right thing to do,” Pant remarked after his club lost to the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium for the third time in four games on Sunday.
LSG lost by 54 runs after Pant was removed for 4 off 2 balls while playing a reverse sweep in a chase of 215. This season, he has amassed 110 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 98.21 and an average of 12.22. He has opened the batting and unsuccessfully batted at No. 4 and No. 7.
“See [I am] keeping it very simple,” Pant said after the game. “Not thinking about that [his form] too much because in a season like this, where things are not going your way, you’re going to start questioning yourself as a player and that is something you don’t want to do.
“When the team isn’t doing well, you’ve got to think about that because eventually it’s a team game. Yes, one player definitely makes a difference, but every time if you take out the individual, it’s not the right thing to do, I guess.”
LSG’s mentor Zaheer Khan said Pant had “ticked all the boxes as a leader” and is confident that he will find his batting form soon. “He’s a leader and he’s been fantastic as a leader,” Zaheer said. “That’s something which I can vouch for. The kind of efforts he’s been taking to make sure that each individual in that group is comfortable, is heard, and the planning to do everything which goes around in IPL, he’s being spot on.
“As a batter… the middle order is dependent on Rishabh. And I’m very confident that the impact, which we want from him, will come. It’s just about something clicking. So I wouldn’t relate it to pressure.
“When you’re talking about a team, you’re talking about winning the tournament, you’re talking about winning the trophy. We’ve identified Rishabh as that leader who is going to take this team forward. There is no doubt about that.”