PRESSURE ON PANT: New LSG skipper Rishabh Pant facing flak after one flop show in IPL 2025

One match in a new IPL season is not enough to proclaim a skipper is under the lens/glare. Yet, one man who was bought for Rs 27 crores in the IPL auction and is already feeling the heat due to non-performance is Rishabh Pant, the Lucknow Super Giants captain. Everyone knows, Pant is a brilliant character on and off the field. Yet, that hangdog expression on his face on Monday night after LSG lost to Delhi Capitals in Vizag could not be hidden. Pant’s face is usually one of smiles and being chirpy. No, he looked lost last night.

Call it pressure or yet to settle with his new team, Pant was not comfortable at all in his IPL opening match for his new team. As it is, there are images on social media doing the rounds, where the LSG boss is talking to Pant. The interpretations are many, but people know Sanjiv Goenka as a very tough team owner. He chased Pant at the auction and got him. So, he will want that kind of a performance from his leader. That did not happen and will put Pant under the scanner in coming matches. Worse, LSG do not have the services of their hyped up fast bowling pack, half of them in the rehab ward, Mayank Yadav included.

The beauty of the IPL is its long format where teams can bounce back. Yet, the chatter in Lucknow’s loss is Pant as a main face since he did not want to stay with Delhi Capitals. The grapevine says, Delhi were ready to spend Rs 24 crores and retain him but the new Nawab of LSG wanted to test the IPL auction waters. Pant did well to emerge as a winner for the price he went. Now comes the challenge, perform and change the fortunes of LSG.

First day, first show, Pant has not done well. If he came to bat, people expected to see fireworks from his bat, He scored zero and the trolls were out. Never mind that, since cricketers are inert to social media, unless their managers decide to use their handles and post in retaliation. Pant needs to perform. If the zero runs he scored was an aberration, people will dig into his past IPL records when he spent quiet a few summers with Delhi Capitals. Off late, there is also chatter and a debate started by India coach Gautam Gambhir, KL Rahul is a better wicket-keeper. Gambhir stuck with Rahul in the Champions Trophy, backed him to the hilt. And Rahul, blessed with a baby girl on Monday, did deliver for India as a keeper and batter in the ODI format in Dubai.

Pant has to now prove his detractors wrong and he has to use the IPL to change the narrative. The IPL is ruthless -- perform or perish. Worst, when Pant also missed a stumping chance off Ashutosh Sharma, the Delhi Capitals destroyer in the last over, it spelt doom. The kind of knock which Ashutosh, a former Punjab Kings player produced on debut for Delhi was defining. He changed the whole complexion with that assault in the final over as Delhi won by one wicket.

So, the frustration, or worry, for Pant, will increase. When he returned to IPL action in 2024 after a crazy car accident in December 2022, where surgery and rehab defined his guts, it was a welcome sight. Today, in T20 cricket, there are so many choices for India, half the guys who are knocking on the doors of selection find themselves out. And in this edition of the IPL, there will be more star performers showing up. As it is, in three days, the IPL has seen some superlative performers from stars – past and present. And did we hear someone say, if MS Dhoni can pull off an electrifying stumping to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav on Sunday in Chennai, is Rishabh Pant slacking?