Sanjay Bangar Calls Out Rishabh Pant’s Unimpressive Show in IPL 2025, Says ‘He’s Yet to Understand White-Ball Game'

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar got out and about over Rishabh Pant's performance in the IPL 2025 season. The veteran believes Pant has struggled while playing shots behind the wicket, and while Rishabh is a star in Test cricket, he is yet to understand the white-ball game, be it T20 or ODI cricket.

Sanjay Bangar Goes ALL OUT On Rishabh Pant's IPL Performance

In the IPL 2025 season so far, Rishabh Pant has been one of the biggest flops. While Lucknow Super Giants have done a decent job, Pant's performance was under the radar as he failed to showcase his prospects. The wicketkeeper-batters' numbers with the bat weren't encouraging, with fans questioning his prowess in Indian white-ball cricket. Sanjay Bangar offered a cut-throat take on Pant's numbers in the 2025 Indian Premier League.

“We have to recognise that he’s still yet to totally understand the white-ball game – both formats, 50-over cricket as well as T20 cricket. A fabulous Test match batter, make no mistake about it, but here in this particular season, what I noticed is that he got out a number of times looking to play shots behind the wicket.

“If you do look to score down the ground a lot of times, then all those other areas open up. But if you’re only looking to score behind, then whatever is in front of you, you sort of are very much late and not in a great position to play,” Sanjay Bangar said, as per the Indian Express.

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Analyzing Pant's Numbers In IPL 2025 So Far

As IPL's most heavily priced player in the 2025 mega auction, Rishabh Pant's outing in the 2025 season so far was underwhelming. The Lucknow Super Giants broke their bank on getting the star player and jacked up the cost to INR 27 Crore. But the numbers he delivered were lower than expectations, as the stumper managed to score just 128 runs in the ten innings he has played. Pant had just one fifty-plus score while half of his outings ended in single digits. This was Pant's poorest IPL form to date.

With the IPL 2025 season being postponed due to the cross-border tensions, it is yet to be seen when it will restart, and whether Rishabh Pant would contemplate opting for a different strategy for himself.

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