Credit: BCCI/IPL
Former Team India batting coach Sanjay Bangar shared his thoughts on Rishabh Pant’s poor form in IPL 2025 and believes that the wicket-keeper batter still needs to understand the white-ball game. Pant is currently the skipper of Lucknow Super Giants in the ongoing IPL season which has been suspended for a week. The left-handed batsman was bought by the franchise for a whopping INR 27 crore making him the most expensive player in the history of the IPL.
However, Rishabh Pant couldn’t impress with his bat in the ongoing season as he could only score 128 runs from 11 matches at an dismal average of 12.80. Reflecting on Pant’s poor run in the ongoing season, Sanjay Bangar said that he conventionally looks to play the shot behid the stumps which leads to his early dismissals.
“We have to recognise that he’s (Pant still yet to totally understand the white-ball game – both formats, 50-over cricket as well as T20 cricket. A fabulous Test match batter, make no mistake about it, but here in this particular season, what I noticed is that he got out a number of times looking to play shots behind the wicket,” Sanjay Bangar said on Star Sports as quoted in News18.
Pant plays his best when he looks to score down the ground: Sanjay Bangar
Speaking further, Sanjay Bangar said that Rishabh Pant plays his best game when he looks to score down the ground. He advised LSG captain to play more cover drives, hit the sightscreen by stepping out and play through squares.
“Now, you pull out the best innings of Rishabh – where has he looked to score the runs? Drives through covers, step down the track and try to hit the sightscreen or go over midwicket, square. But here he was trying to play those reverse sweeps or shots that are very fine. So as a batter, I think probably he just got caught in that confusion and forgot that his best game, or that he plays at his best, is when he’s looking to score down the ground," Bangar said.
