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"Not Pressure, Just Bad Timing": LSG Star Defends Rishabh Pant's Horrendous IPL Season

Soumyajit Dutta

Rishabh Pant [Source: @repivxx65/X]Rishabh Pant [Source: @repivxx65/X]

Rishabh Pant, the IPL’s most expensive player at ₹27 crore, has endured a forgettable season with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), managing just 151 runs in 12 innings at a dismal average of 13.73. Despite assembling a star-studded squad around Pant, LSG faltered under his leadership, finishing outside the top four. 

However, teammate and India pacer Akash Deep defended Pant's failure and named him a victim of poor luck. 

Akash Deep Defends Pant's Horrible Season

Akash Deep dismissed claims that pressure derailed Pant’s season, attributing his struggles to poor timing. 

“Look, I feel that in cricket, timing is also something very important. I don’t think it’s about pressure because Rishabh has played a lot of cricket… An athlete who has achieved so much in life knows how to handle pressure. It’s more about timing—sometimes you want to do something, but it just doesn’t happen. I feel that’s the phase Rishabh is going through right now,” Akash Deep said ahead of LSG’s final game, as quoted by India Today.

Notably, in the season, Pant's highest score,63 off 49 balls, came in a low-stakes game against Chennai Super Kings, doing little to silence critics. 

LSG’s playoff hopes ended after a must-win defeat to Mumbai Indians, where Pant fell for 7, epitomising his lacklustre campaign.

Pant's Disappointing Dip In IPL 2025

Rishabh Pant had a significant dip in performance in the 2025 season compared to 2024. In 2024, he scored 446 runs in 13 matches at an impressive average of 40.55 and a strike rate of 155.40, including three fifties. 

However, in 2025, his form dropped sharply with a strike rate of 107.09 and just one fifty from his 13 games. His boundary count also fell drastically, hitting only 12 fours and 8 sixes, compared to 36 fours and 25 sixes the previous season, indicating a poor and disappointing campaign which he would like to forget in the next season.