He scored a six-ball-duck in the previous match.
Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) coach Sanjay Bangar advised Rishabh Pant to open the innings in his second match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Previously, the newly appointed captain of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) couldn’t add any runs to the team’s total in his first match for the franchise, as his former teammate Kuldeep Yadav dismissed him for a duck.
However, LSG set a mammoth target of 210 against Delhi Capitals (DC) with the help of two smashing knocks from Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran. They scored 72 and 75 at a strike rate of 200 and 250, respectively. David Miller’s 19-ball-27 not out also contributed to the hopes of their first match win. But Ashutosh Sharma’s 66 not out (31) proved to be match-winning for DC.
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Former RCB coach Sanjay Bangar believes that Pant will excel at the top order in white ball cricket. He also suggested replacing Proteas Aiden Markram, who only managed to score 15 in their last game, with pacer Shamar Joseph.
“I always believed that in the white-ball format, the best position for him is at the top. Let him open the innings. Drop Markram and get Shamar Joseph. The middle-order is unchanged as far as overseas batters are concerned”, he opined.
Moreover, he emphasised Pant’s strong stats against spin and pace in the longer formats while advising the management to use him at the top of the batting order.
“Free up Rishabh Pant. Rishabh, as a batter, in the longer format has shown he is a far better player against quality pace too. He has a reputation of hitting against spin. He has done well against pace. So utilise him at the top of the order”, he said to the broadcasters.
But in reality, Bangar’s suggestion contradicts Pant’s stats while opening. The wicketkeeper-batter has played four times as an opener in his 111 IPL innings and has a poor average record of 26 and a strike rate of 136.84.
Lucknow Super Giants will take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium tonight.
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