‘Sympathy Quota, PR’

There were high hopes and expectations from Rishabh Pant when he was signed by the Lucknow Super Giants for an IPL record fee of Rs. 27 crore. However, it is safe to say that the IPL 2025 that Pant has had so far has been nothing short of disastrous. 

Pant has not been able to get going at all for his new franchise and his struggles continued during LSG’s home game against the Mumbai Indians on Friday (April 4). 

Pant came out to bat at number 4 but could only score 2 runs off the 6 balls he faced and was dismissed by his MI counterpart Hardik Pandya. 

It was a soft dismissal too, as he top-edged a slower ball from Pandya that was well collected by substitute fielder Corbin Bosch. 

His dismissal naturally led to Pant being trolled badly on social media.

Pant’s form in the shortest format of the game has always been hit or miss, but many felt he had turned a corner during the 2024 edition of the IPL as he was consistently scoring runs and at a healthy strike rate too. 

His good IPL form eventually led to him being selected in India’s T20 World Cup-winning side and he was the first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman in the tournament. 

Thus it was no surprise when he was picked by LSG, who needed a captain after parting ways with KL Rahul, for big bucks in the IPL 2025 auction. 

But the performances haven’t yet come – he has only scored 19 runs in 4 innings for LSG and is yet to find his stride as both a captain and a wicketkeeper.