Rishabh Pant asked to handover LSG's major responsibility to Nicholas Pooran

With Rishabh Pant's struggle in the ongoing IPL 2025 showing very few signs of coming to an end, former Australia captain Aaron Finch has advised him to change his position on the field.

Things are going from bad to worse for the wicketkeeper-batsman with each passing game. In the first half of the season, his struggle was not felt by Lucknow Super Giants much as they faced little difficulty in winning the games.

LSG on the verge of IPL 2025 elimination

Even though Rishabh Pant struggled with the bat, Lucknow Super Giants won four of their opening six games. However, they are now desperately missing the leadership on the field after losing three games in a row.

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Even though LSG are firmly in the playoffs race at the moment, their campaign is in danger of getting derailed.

On Sunday (May 4), LSG suffered a crushing 37-run loss at the hands of Punjab Kings. It was their third defeat in a row and fourth defeat in the last five games.

Pant has been suffering from poor form

While Rishabh Pant would like to lead his team from the front, things are not going well for him at the moment.

He managed to score only 18 runs off 17 balls against Punjab when his team was chasing a daunting total of 237 runs.

Overall, Pant has scored only 128 runs in 11 games at an average of less than 13 and a strike-rate of less than 100.

Aaron Finch's advice for Rishabh Pant:

As Rishabh Pant looks to regain his form both as a batsman and a captain, Aaron Finch has advised him to give up wicketkeeping.

The former cricketer-turned-commentator has suggested that Pant should hand over
wicketkeeping duties to Nicholas Pooran to improve on-field communication.

"It must be really difficult to captain a side when you're the wicketkeeper. You probably get a couple of seconds to talk to your bowler between overs, and with the stop-clock rule, that time is minimal," Finch told JioStar.

"That can be really difficult - the bowler's plan might change ball to ball, and so might Rishabh's. You can see how animated and frustrated he is when things don't go to plan.

"Maybe it's time he says, `Pooran, you take the gloves. I need to get rhythm, manage plans better, and talk to my attack directly'," he added.

Pant and LSG are now fast running out of time to get their campaign back on track. They have lost the momentum and will have to come up with something special to qualify for the playoffs. With 5 wins and 6 defeats, they are currently at the seventh spot in the points table.

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