Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif said continuous chop and change in Rishabh Pant’s batting position played a key role in his poor season as a captain and batter. LSG was knocked out of the tournament after suffering a six-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Lucknow on Monday.
Pant once again failed to deliver the goods as he was dismissed after scoring only seven runs. The southpaw was caught and bowled by Sri Lankan pacer Eshan Malinga. The left-hander has scored 135 runs in 11 innings at an average of 12.27 and a strike rate of 100 in the ongoing IPL 2025.
“If you have to prepare for next year, you have to decide your batting number as a captain. It should remain the same from the first to the last match, and it shouldn’t change. Whether you want to play at No. 3 or No. 4, you should build the team around that and play players accordingly,” Kaif said on Star Sports show Match Point.
“However, now I saw him not coming to bat at times, and trying to do almost the entire job as a captain on other occasions. Then you feel that he doesn’t know his own role as a captain. A year can go bad, many people go out of form, but the learning is that you should stick to one number,” the former India batter added.
On the other hand, former Indian batter Ajay Jadeja felt Pant failed to arrive in IPL 2025, both as a captain and as a batter.
“As a batter, the entire Pant seemed to be missing. It doesn’t seem like Pant came at all in this IPL. There was a small knock against Chennai, which you won’t even count,” he responded.
“As a captain, when you didn’t score and half the bowlers you picked in the auction weren’t available for half the season, and the retained tried-and-tested (Ravi) Bishnoi had to be dropped by the end of the season and then conceded 26 runs in an over, and despite that, you kept this team in the playoff race with two matches to go, I believe he did an excellent job,” Jadeja reasoned.
LSG will next take on the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Thursday.
