Captain Rishabh Pant doesn't know his own role: Mohammad Kaif launches vicious attack
Published - 20 May 2025, 06:42 PM
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif slammed Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant for his lack of clarity in his own batting position.
Pant’s performance with the bat was responsible for Lucknow’s underwhelming performance in IPL 2025.
Read also: Watch: Josh Hazlewood returns to action in a major boost for RCB ahead of IPL 2025 playoffs
Mohammad Kaif on Rishabh Pant’s role
Pant’s batting spot wasn’t specific in the IPL 2025 as he came in any position from the top order to the middle order, but nothing worked for him in this season.
"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 stated on Star Sports.
Kaif also claimed that Pant was not coming to bat when his team needed him. The skipper was just trying to do captaincy or wicket-keeping.
"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.
Pant only managed to score just 135 runs in 12 matches at an average of just 12.27. Pant tried every batting position in the ongoing IPL season, but his fortunes didn’t change.
Rishabh Pant blames the absence of key bowlers for LSG’s underperformance
After last night's defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow was also eliminated from the IPL 2025. LSG had an outside chance before the clash against Hyderabad, but they couldn’t defend a 200-run total.
"The way we planned the auction, if we would have had the same bowling... but this is cricket, sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don't, we take pride in the way we played and take the positives from the season rather than the negative side," Pant said in the post-match presentation.
Rishabh Pant praised Digvesh Rathi for his performances in his debut IPL season, and Rathi is the LSG’s biggest positive from this season.
Rishabh Pant was heavily criticised by experts
Most of the experts criticised Pant for his poor performance in the IPL 2025. Pant scored just one half-century in this season from 12 matches.
Some experts stated that Pant should just go away and spend time away from the game. Some raised questions about his irregular batting position.
Pant was bought as the most expensive player in IPL history, but he couldn't convert the price tag to match-winning performances.
