Lucknow Super Giants have thrown their weight behind captain Rishabh Pant to fast-track them to success in the Indian Premier League despite the swashbuckling left-hander’s woes with the bat.
Pant’s Lucknow slumped to its fifth defeat in the T20 tournament this season after they were beaten by Mumbai Indians on Sunday, with 46 off 74 matches completed.
Wicketkeeper-batter Pant was bought by Lucknow for a record $3.21 million in the November auction and was later named as captain for season 18.
Except Pant has scored only 110 runs from nine innings.
His poor form here is in tandem with Lucknow’s inconsistent form in the league where they are sixth after playing 10 matches.
But team mentor Zaheer Khan lauded Pant’s captaincy in the 10-team tournament, where top four sides will qualify for the play-offs.
“He’s been brilliant as a leader, I can say that from my experience,” Zaheer accessed to media after the team’s 54-run loss against Mumbai.
“And the efforts he’s made to ensure that every single one in that group is comfortable, is heard, and the planning that goes into everything that goes beyond and behind IPL, he has nailed that.”
“Middle order definitely relies on Rishabh,” former India fast bowler Zaheer said, while the one-time captain remained certain he can get the runs required.
“I’m very much convinced that he will have the impact we want from him,” he said. “Well, it’s more just about something clicking — so I wouldn’t point pressure.
Pant’s batting slump persisted when he tried to reverse-sweep England spinner Will Jacks and was caught at short thirdman for four in Lucknow’s 10th game.
Lucknow were all out for 161 in response to 216.
Pant said he had been “keeping it very simple,” but was trying to stay focused on the games ahead and “not to think” about what he had done in his past innings.
“In a season like this where things are not going your way, you are going to start asking yourself as a player so you’re kind of glad not to have that,” he said.
Former India spin legend Anil Kumble felt the pressure of Pant’s hefty price tag was playing on the back of the flamboyant batsman.
“So there’s a lot of expectations on him as a captain, as a leader and he was bought at the auction for a maximum price.
“All of this may be playing in his mind,” he said. “You don’t want the last thing you see before the ball is released to be all this — you want to shut all of that out, get on the white ball that’s coming out of his hand, and that’s all he needs to do.”