Lucknow, May 20 Former India pacer Varun Aaron shared his insights on skipper Rishabh Pant’s struggling season after Lucknow Super Giants were knocked out of the playoffs race, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in a must-win match, saying that the wicketkeeper-batter appeared tentative right from the beginning and was unable to find his rhythm throughout the season.
Pant, who was signed by LSG for Rs 27 crore in the mega auction, has struggled miserably this season with only 135 runs in 12 games. In Monday night's game against SRH, he was dismissed for a mere score of seven in six balls.
"LSG were relying on him, especially in the middle-order. Except for Marsh, nobody scored. Pant looked tentative from the start and never really got going this season. It’s a sign of a player out of form. A prime Pant would've launched that shot into the stands. Today, he chipped it straight to the bowler. He’s a quality player and will wake up," Aaron said on JioHotstar.
Aaron added that Pant needs to reassess and adjust his approach moving forward to regain form."He just needs to adjust his approach slightly. This year, he hasn’t scored behind square—bowlers aren’t letting him play those shots. At Arun Jaitley (stadium), those 45-degree angles worked for him. On bigger grounds, they haven’t," he said.
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra commented on Pant's learnings from the innings, and said, "Success might teach you a few things. Failures, however, truly change your mindset—and often for good. He isn’t a regular in the Indian T20 side, so this season was crucial. A chance to make a mark, to build a strong unit. It hasn’t gone that way. His own form has been inconsistent—another lesson in itself.
"Does he stick to this approach in T20s or adapt? When you're in a bad patch, it feels like nothing works. The nights seem longer, the days even more so. That’s when you learn—and bounce back. This has been a nightmare. The good thing about nightmares is that you eventually wake up," he added.
In the match, after LSG posted 205/7, SRH star Abhishek Sharma spearheaded the chase with his 20-ball 59 while the rest of the SRH batters put on a collective effort to comfortably reach 206/4 - the highest successful chase in the IPL in Lucknow.
Speaking about Abhishek's impact on SRH, Chopra said the youngster emulates his hero and mentor Yuvraj Singh when he bats. "It’s the flamboyance—he brings that to the table. Like Mitchell Marsh, he holds the bat at the top, has a lovely downswing, and has a beautiful backlift—he’s clearly emulating his hero Yuvraj Singh. You see shades of Yuvi when he bats. That’s why you invest in Abhishek Sharma."
"If he gets going, he can make the match one-sided. A 59 off 20 balls today—he gave others time to settle in. Very strong through the off-side and down the ground. I think he finished Ravi Bishnoi as a bowler tonight—one over, four sixes. That was that," he said.
He further shared his opinion on SRH batter Heinrich Klaasen’s knock against LSG and said, "SRH were in the driver’s seat at the halfway mark. It didn’t require bravado—just common sense and a steady partnership. That’s what they did. People talk about Pant going for Rs 27 crore, but Klaasen was retained for Rs 23 crore, more than Rohit, Bumrah, or Kohli. That’s big money. You expect returns.
"While he’s scored runs this season, they haven’t always been meaningful. But tonight, he showed why you want Klaasen in your XI—he calmly steered them to victory."
LSG will play their next game against table-toppers Gujarat Titans on Thursday in Ahmedabad, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad play their penultimate game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday in Bengaluru.
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