Follow UsWhen Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) shelled out INR 27 crore for Rishabh Pant, little did they expect to see such an underwhelming return from the wicketkeeper batter. LSG’s captain and their batting mainstay, Pant, continued his poor run, with a nine-ball three against Rajasthan Royals, on April 19 (Saturday).
Off the very first ball, Pant could have walked back home if not for a thin edge that saved him from an LBW shout. From then on, the left-hander looked like a fish out of water, unable to make any meaningful contact with the ball.
With Pant on three off eight balls, his eyes light up against a favourable match-up against Wanindu Hasaranga, trying out an audacious reverse sweep. However, it went horribly wrong for the left-hander, who could only get an edge on the ball that flew straight into the hands of RR’s wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel.
Jurel, though, couldn’t hold on at the first attempt before the ball looped yet again, where he juggled for the second time before holding the ball on safely in the third attempt. It put an end to Pant’s painful stay at the crease, where he could only hit three runs off nine balls, taking his tally to 106 runs but at a strike rate of 98.14 in IPL 2025 so far.