Even though the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) fell by five wickets, captain Rishabh Pant‘s 49-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) offered prospects of a comeback. He had only amassed 40 runs off 50 balls in five innings of IPL 2025 play going into this match.
However, that was an odd knock. After LSG had dropped two early wickets, Pant came in at No. 4 and reached 27 off just 16 balls. After that, though, he slowed down significantly and at one point was on 38 off 38. Against Noor Ahmad in particular, he struggled and only managed to score six runs off of 15 balls that he faced. Those ten were dots.
Pant used a total of 21 dot balls during his innings.
In contrast, there were just nine dots in Virat Kohli’s 62 not out off 45 balls against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday. Pant has the lowest dot-ball percentage (48.48) among players who have faced at least 50 balls this season. His strike rate is at 104.04 as a result of huge shots not being taken as frequently as he would have wanted.
“I don’t know whether he looks to do that [rotate strike],” Wasim Jaffer, a former opener for India, stated on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. “Kohli excels at that. He can play all around, which is why he gets off strike so well. However, the problem is that Pant does occasionally become stuck. He then attempts that massive shot. He simply needs to improve at rotating strike, in my opinion.
Additionally, Jaffer wants Pant to focus more on hitting the straight boundaries against fast bowlers and spinners. On Monday, he hit four fours and as many sixes, but only one hit the ground.
Jaffer remarked, “I feel he never looks to hit straight,” “He always tries to move in the direction of the cow corner, square leg, and leg side. Near the finish [against CSK], he struck a six in a row. Otherwise, he was continually trying to go to the leg side or the reverse scoop he played at the beginning of the innings, but that was all.
“The teams frequently stack up the fielders there as well.” Therefore, I believe he needs to have far more access underground.
“I still feel Pant has so much to offer when he is moving around, contrary to what you hear a lot of commentators and players saying that he needs to stay still and hit,” stated Abhinav Mukund, Jaffer’s co-panelist on the show. When Pant is moving around, I enjoy him. He appears to be more proactive, accessing straight and over cover. He had the impression that the cover area was closed today, which is a little worrisome.
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