23 March,2026 08:30 AM IST | Lucknow | Santosh Suri
Rishabh Pant during LSG’s training session recently. Pics/LSG’s Instagram
There was a time when Rishabh Pant was considered a near-indispensable all-format player, but he has gradually lost his place in India's white-ball team, be it in T20Is or ODIs. India recently won the T20 World Cup without him. Given the way Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan performed, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain faces an uphill task of making inroads into the Indian T20 squad.
Pant will require a stupendous IPL season with the bat to have even a remote chance of challenging the two, who hogged the limelight in the T20 World Cup triumph. He has been working hard in the nets and also visited the Ram temple in Ayodhya along with franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka on Saturday to seek divine blessings.
The good thing for Pant is that he looks fit and in good rhythm at the pre-season camp underway at the Ekana Stadium here. Hitting the straps a week before their opening match on All Fools Day, Pant looks focused and determined. He knows that the only way back into the Indian team is by scoring heavily.
With the focus of the national selectors and the Indian team management on the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Pant realises that the only option for him is to build a mountain of runs over the 14 games LSG are set to play over the next two months. And if he can, in the process, also lead the LSG to their maiden title, it will be a big addition to his CV.
LSG head coach Jastin Langer is confident that Pant will continue from where he left off last season. "Rishabh is ready to go. He is training at the base camp in Lucknow. He is firing and looks in great touch. He is a champion player, and we have often seen how brilliant he can be. A player of his calibre cannot be kept down for long. This season could well be a ground-breaking one for him."
The LSG captain, the most expensive player in IPL history (Rs 27 crore), endured a difficult last season, scoring just 269 runs, including a century in the final league match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the ultimate champions.
Their skipper's poor run and injuries to the main strike bowlers meant LSG finished seventh despite their openers amassing plenty of runs.
24
No. of dismissals by Rishabh Pant behind the stumps for Delhi Capitals in the 2019 edition (18 catches and six stumpings) - the most by a wicketkeeper that year
24.45
Rishabh Pant's average last season - his lowest in an IPL edition
684
No. of runs scored by DD's Pant in the 2018 edition - the most by any player that year
147.61
Pant's strike-rate across 125 IPL games - higher than his T20I strike-rate (127.26)
