The most expensive signing of IPL history, Rishabh Pant, was expected to play a key role for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025. However, the wicketkeeper-batter has been unable to set the stage on fire so far.
LSG have faced its consequences as they have already lost two out of their first three matches of the tournament. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh spoke about Rishabh Pant’s consistent failures so far and labeled him as the “big shock” for his team.
Harbhajan also hailed the Punjab Kings for their improved showing this year and heaped praises on their head coach Ricky Ponting for working with the youngsters and putting all the efforts behind this team.
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Harbhajan Singh labels Rishabh Pant as “huge shock”
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan Singh shed light on Rishabh Pant’s continuous low scores with the bat this season. The former India spinner labeled him as a big shock for LSG and asked the team to do something about their captain.
“Rishabh Pant wasn’t able to do much. His bat has been quiet. They will have to do something about him getting out early. He has been a big shock for the team,” said Harbhajan.
Rishabh Pant has batted at No. 4 in all three games so far but is yet to make a significant impact. The wicketkeeper-batter is one of the most dangerous batters currently in the IPL but hasn’t got going so far.
Rishabh Pant’s hat-trick of failures
In the three matches played so far, Rishabh Pant has scored just 17 runs at an average of just 5.66 with the best of 15. He got a duck in the first match against Delhi Capitals and then scored 15 in the second match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Pant arrived at the crease with his team struggling at 32-2 inside the powerplay during LSG’s third match against Punjab Kings. His team needed the captain to fire in a tricky situation.
However, he got out for just 2 runs in a shocking way when he tried to hit Glenn Maxwell’s half-tracker out of the ground. Pant picked out Yuzvendra Chahal at fine leg, who took the catch gleefully. He, alongside the LSG supporters at the ground, was totally stunned by he dismissal.
Harbhajan Singh lauds Ricky Ponting
Further speaking in the same video, Harbhajan Singh gave the post-match analysis and claimed that LSG’s batters got stuck and couldn’t score much. He feels that Punjab’s batting was too strong for LSG and they needed to put up more runs on the board.
“LSG got stuck. After losing the toss, they didn’t score much runs and disappointed themselves. Nicholas Pooran played brilliant but he was trapped by Yuzvendra Chahal. So when (Nicholas) Pooran got out, LSG’s back was pretty much broken,” Harbhajan noted.
“Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad provided some fireworks towards the end got them to a total, which was worth fighting for but very tough to defend given just how strong Punjab’s batting is,” the former CSK spinner added.
Harbhajan also hailed Ricky Ponting for the way he has started with Punjab Kings as the head coach. He believes that Ponting’s motivation worked well for the Punjab youngsters and they are getting the results.
“To bet Lucknow in Lucknow shows they’ve played brilliant cricket. Punjab is finally resembling a team, a unit that is fighting. This team is showing traits of going all the way. Ricky Ponting has motivated the youngsters only he can,” he observed.
Punjab Kings might have played just two matches so far but have shown enough promise. Opener Priyansh Arya shone with a blistering knock in the first match which was also his IPL debut. Arya scored 47 off just 23 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.
Prabhsimran Singh slammed a brutal 69 off 34 balls to emerge as the Player of the Match in the second game. Nehal Wadhera also scored a fine 43 off 25 balls on his PBKS debut.
