Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra raised concerns regarding Rishabh Pant’s poor form in the ongoing IPL 2025. Pant was dismissed after scoring four runs off two balls against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. The southpaw was caught by Karn Sharma off the bowling of Will Jacks when he tried to play a reverse sweep.
The left-hander has scored 110 runs in nine innings at an average of 12.22 and a strike rate of 98.21 in the ongoing IPL 2025. Thus, the wicket-keeper bat has struggled to lead from the front.
Chasing 216 runs for the win, LSG was bundled out for only 161 runs with Jasprit Bumrah taking four wickets and thus suffered a huge loss of 54 runs.
“The biggest story is Rishabh Pant’s. What are you doing? He hit a four off the first ball and then got out off the second ball while playing the reverse sweep again. All of us say that one shouldn’t comment on the way Rishabh Pant gets out because he scores runs like that only,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“However, one has to comment if he doesn’t score runs, and he hasn’t scored runs this year. I say he is a generational talent, but he has been extremely ordinary this year. The one good thing he did was that he came to bat at No. 4, but it seems like he is not in the right mental space, from the batting point of view,” he added.
On the other hand, the renowned commentator also lauded Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed 54 runs off 28 balls. Ryan Rickelton also played a crucial knock of 58 runs off 32 balls.
“Every guy has come in form. Rohit Sharma got out, but he hit two sixes. He was batting well. Ryan Rickelton was at the other end. He is now batting very well. Suryakumar Yadav is batting like Suryakumar Yadav,” he said in the same video.
Chopra said the likes of Will Jacks (29 off 21), Naman Dhir (25 off 11), and Corbin Bosch (20 off 10) did their respective jobs even though Hardik Pandya could only score five runs off seven balls.
“There might be a slight question on Hardik Pandya’s form as he hasn’t scored runs for a long time, but Will Jacks did his job, and Naman Dhir came later and did his job too. They played Corbin Bosch in this game because Mitchell Santner had an injured finger. He too scored 20 runs off 10 balls,” Chopra observed.
Mumbai Indians have now won five matches on the bounce, and they would aim to carry the good show.
