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Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant gave poor performances with the bat throughout the ongoing IPL season and it was one of the main reasons why the franchise failed to make it to the playoffs. After featuring for the Delhi Capitals for eight seasons in the league, Pant got released from the franchise and entered the IPL 2025 mega auction.
After a fierce bidding war which saw several teams enter and exit, it was LSG who signed the wicketkeeper-batter for a humongous fee of INR 27 crore. With this, Pant also became the most expensive player in the history of the cash-rich league. Big things were expected from him ahead of the beginning of the season, however to say that the 27-year-old underperformed would be an understatement.
Rishabh Pant's abysmal IPL 2025 performance
After featuring in 13 matches so far this season, Pant has only managed to score a total of 151 runs for the franchise, maintaining a dismal average of 13.72 and a strike-rate of 107.09. He has also only been able to take his individual score over the 50-run mark on a single occasion in the campaign. What is even more disappointing is that a hard-hitter like Pant has hit a total of just eight sixes in IPL 2025 so far.
However, LSG pacer Akash Deep defended his side's captain, stating that the wicketkeeper-batter's poor form is due to 'bad timing' rather than pressure. He also praised Pant for achieving many things at the highest level in cricket.
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"I feel that in cricket, timing is also something very important, I don't think it's about pressure because Rishabh has played a lot of cricket, and at a very high level too, and he has performed as well. An athlete who has achieved so much in life knows how to handle pressure. So I don't think pressure is the reason. It's more about timing—sometimes you want to do something, but it just doesn't happen. I feel that's the phase Rishabh is going through right now," Akash Deep said ahead of LSG's clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The Lucknow-based franchise will be capping off their IPL 2025 campaign with the clash against RCB on May 27 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. While LSG have already been eliminated from the tournament, the Bengaluru-based franchise will be looking to seal their spot in the top two on the IPL points table with a victory in their final league stage fixture.
RCB currently sit on the third place with 17 points from 13 matches under their name on the standings while LSG are on the seventh spot with 12 points from the same number of games.
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