Ex-CSK star questions Rishabh Pant's form ahead of IPL 2026
Published - 12 Mar 2026, 04:43 PM
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The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 will be underway on the 28th of March 2026. Ahead of the IPL, cricketers who were not part of the T20 World Cup 2026 setup have already joined their respective franchise camps and are getting ready for the toughest T20 league in the world.
Among them, Rishabh Pant has also been spotted taking special lessons from former India batter Yuvraj Singh, who has shaped the careers of many young cricketers in recent times, with the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson.
Rishabh Pant is gearing up for the IPL
Rishabh Pant is not an obvious choice on the T20 or ODI side for the Men in Blue. However, he currently stands as the most expensive player in IPL history. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for a whopping price of INR 27 crore. Though the Southpaw failed to perform as per the expectations in the last season.
Rishabh Pant scored 269 with an average of 24.45, scoring just a solitary fifty and a hundred. Ahead of the next season, Pant will be under huge pressure as he needs to step up big for the franchise, as he is also the captain of the side.
He is probably the player in the IPL who's under the most pressure- Faf du Plessis
Former Chennai Super Kings batter Faf du Plessis has pointed out that Rishabh Pant is the player who will be under the scanner. Du Plessis pointed out Pant’s struggles with the bat, and the franchise’s performance was also poor last season as LSG finished 7th in the league table. While speaking on StarSports was asked about the pressure on Pant as a captain and batter.
Faf Du Plessis said, "For me, he is probably the player in the IPL who's under the most pressure this season. We always talk about the price-tag pressure. Some guys flourish under that price-tag pressure, and some guys don't. The last season for him was a real tough season. The team struggled, and his runs also struggled, the way that he batted."
So there is all that pressure- Faf du Plessis
The former CSK opener also pointed out that if LSG needs to play good cricket, then Rishabh Pant has to score runs from the bat to lead the side with less pressure on his back.
Faf du Plessis further added, "So there is all that pressure when he comes into this season, and the expectation on what the team is going to do. With a batting-heavy team, how are they going to maximize the bowling?"
"If he is scoring runs as a captain, it takes pressure off you in the first instance, but then there is the second instance, which is the team, and last year, both of those had big red crosses to their names."
Rishabh Pant’s only century came in the final game of the season against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he scored 118 off 61 balls. Lucknow Super Giants will be back in action on April 1 against the Delhi Capitals (DC). As of now, a schedule of 20 matches has been announced by the IPL.
Also Read: "He is unbelievable" - Sourav Ganguly puts Jasprit Bumrah on same pedestal as Pakistan great
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