Leaner and fitter in looks, but clumsy as a batter. That has been the Rishabh Pant story in IPL 2026.
It won’t be fair to put the blame entirely on captain Pant for Lucknow Super Giants’ current position in the standings. But individually, Pant also won’t be too happy with how he has fared so far with the bat in this IPL, his first assignment since recovering from the side strain.
Barring the 68 not out off 50 balls in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pant’s batting has been somewhat of a struggle in the current edition. Yes, he did hit 43 off 23 balls in a high-scoring game against Punjab Kings last Sunday, but was dismissed at a crucial period when his team required more from him.
He is considered the team’s X-factor, but the Super Giants skipper has had a difficult phase.
Considering some of the innings he has played in the Test format, with innovative strokes as well, Pant’s game looks ideally suited for limited-overs cricket and more so, for T20s. Strangely, even after having spent nine years in international cricket, the 28-year-old is anything but an automatic choice in the Indian XI when it comes to white-ball games.
At present, with 147 runs, an average of 24.50 and striking at 132.43 after seven matches in IPL 2026, Pant certainly needs to better his numbers. Otherwise, making the ODI fold too may get tougher for him, especially if the likes of Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson keep performing. Even Dhruv Jurel has superior numbers (average of 30.16 and strike rate of 169.15) in this IPL.
But what ails Pant in T20 cricket? Has he not yet figured out his template for the limited-overs formats?
“Look, Rishabh is too talented a player to not succeed in white-ball cricket. It’s not that he hasn’t had success at all in the shorter formats.
“He did get that match-winning century in that ODI in England (125 not out off 113 balls in Manchester in July 2022), which underlined his abilities. He needs to revisit those innings,” former national selector Devang Gandhi feels.
“But yes, if you look back at yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) game (versus Rajasthan Royals), Rishabh could have taken three-four deliveries to first get his eye in and then go for the shots.
“The Lucknow pitch was a little tacky, while his team didn’t have to chase a big total either. So, he could have taken a bit of time. Besides, he just needs to be a little more judicious with his selection of shots,” Devang pointed out.
Captaincy factor
What bodes well for batter Pant even in this situation is the support he’s getting from Lucknow head coach Justin Langer, who backs him to bat at No. 3. But is Langer pleased with Pant’s captaincy?
On a pitch that had purchase for the quicks, with Langer even likening it to Perth’s Waca, Pant’s utilisation of comeback pacer Mayank Yadav was far from ideal.
For a fast bowler with very limited competitive appearances over the last couple of years, owing to a streak of injuries, getting him to bowl the last over of the innings — when he had already gone for 36 off three overs — certainly wasn’t the best call from
the skipper.
Is captaincy putting any kind of extra pressure on his batting? It’s something Pant himself knows best.
