New Delhi, May 5 Former India batter Ambati Rayudu expressed concern over under-fire Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant, saying that he is feeling sorry for the wicketkeeper-batter for being "pretty stubborn" about not changing his batting order or his approach.
Pant, who was the most expensive buy at the last IPL auction at Rs 27 crore, has not quite lived up to the price tag. In 10 innings so far, he’s managed only 128 runs, with five of those innings ending in single digits, including a duck. He has just one half-century to his name in the tournament so far.
In the match against Punjab Kings on Sunday, he came in at No. 4 after an early collapse but could only manage 18 off 17 balls while chasing a daunting 237.
"I think, at this point in time, I'm feeling very sorry for him because he's not been changing his batting order or his approach. I think he's being pretty stubborn about how he wants to go about things. It's not working in his favour at the moment. It happens in this sport, to be very honest, and he is going through a very, very bad patch. It can happen to anybody.
"I just hope that he takes this learning and improves on it and doesn't become even more stubborn, but just accept the fact that he is struggling and start doing things a little differently (and) try and get better every day," Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out.
Rayudu also believes that Pant lacks the mindset and batting approach needed for a middle-order role and suggested that LSG skipper would be better off opening the innings.
"I think more than anything it's just the clarity of what he wants to do because Pant ideally for me is an opener in white-ball cricket, because in the middle order he has not been great. I know he loves playing in the middle but he doesn't have the batsmanship that is required or the skill set. Maybe he has the skillset, but not the mindset to execute that," Rayudu added.
After being asked to bat, PBKS opener Prabhsimran Singh smashed 91 off 48. With late fireworks from captain Shreyas Iyer (45 off 25 balls), Shashank Singh (33 not out off 15 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (15* off 5 balls), PBKS posted a mammoth total of 236/5 in 20 overs.
In reply, despite a brilliant half-century by Ayush Badoni and a blitzkrieg 24-ball 45 by Abdul Samad, LSG fell 37 runs short of the target.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor