Rishabh Pant is having a tough time justifying his hefty Rs 27 crore price tag in IPL 2025. In nine games so far, the LSG captain has only managed to register double digit scores on three occasions. To make matters worse, he has failed to score while batting at any position, be it as an opener or way down the order at number 7.
Pant needs to bat up the order, not hide behind youngsters
While Pant is already facing flak for being unable to break free from shackles of poor form, he made yet another baffling decision on Tuesday. The LSG captain walked out to bat at number 7, leaving fans and experts puzzled. While he usually bats at number 4, the southpaw decided to promote Abdul Samad to that position instead in the tie against DC.
The move backfired as Samad was dismissed cheaply. Pant walked out to the middle when there were just two deliveries left in the innings. He survived one delivery before he was sent packing in the very next one as he attempted a weird shot. The duck in the tie against LSG marked Pant’s second one in IPL 2025.
Pant has a decent record in the IPL, with 3390 runs to his name from 120 matches, averaging 33.56 and boasting of a career strike rate of 146.43. Majority of the runs scored by the LSG captain have come when he bats up the order.
| Match | Score |
| LSG vs DC | 0 |
| LSG vs RR | 3 |
| LSG vs CSK | 63 |
| LSG vs GT | 21 |
| LSG vs KKR | — |
| LSG vs MI | 2 |
| LSG vs PBKS | 2 |
| LSG vs SRH | 15 |
| LSG vs DC | 0 |
Now, it is pertinent to point out that Pant is no MS Dhoni – both in terms of fitness and ability. While the latter can afford to bat lower down the order as he has earned the reputation of being a finisher, the southpaw isn’t one. In fact, what the LSG captain needs to do is spend time in the middle by batting up the order in order to score runs. And of course, extend his stay in the middle by not giving into the temptation of playing a rash shot and getting dismissed.
So far, most of the heavy lifting has been done by Markram, Marsh, Pooran and Badoni. As for Pant, he has simply been unable to get going. His only half-century in IPL 2025 came in the game against CSK. However, that knock was also pretty slow-paced.
For a batter with caliber such as Pant, there is no excuse for batting down the order, no matter what justification is provided. The LSG captain is not a finisher but is a proper middle-order batter. Time is running out of his hands to pull up his socks and start scoring big runs that is very much what the team expects from the southpaw.
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