IPL 2025: Anil Kumble questions Rishabh Pant’s batting position, says LSG captain looks frustrated

Former Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble questioned Rishabh Pant’s batting position after Lucknow Super Giants suffered a eight-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at Lucknow in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Tuesday. Pant batted at number seven after Axar Patel decided to bowl first.

With only two balls left in the innings, Pant missed the first ball when he stepped out against Mukesh Kumar. On the second ball, Pant played back on to his stumps while trying to play the reverse ramp shot.

Kumble noted that Pant looked frustrated on the field, which are not good signs for LSG. The left-hander has scored 106 runs in eight innings of IPL 2025 at an average of 13.25.

“If you want to play freely, without any pressure, you should come a little late to the crease, but this is way too late. Looking at how frustrated Rishabh Pant is looking out there, you can see something wrong has happened. Maybe he wanted to go out early. Was it his decision? Was it Justin Langer or Zaheer Khan’s? Because he clearly looks frustrated,” Kumble said on Star Sports.

On the other hand, Pant revealed that they were looking to capitalize on the solid start they got and hence promoted Abdul Samad. However, the youngster was dismissed after managing only two runs off eight balls whereas David Miller also struggled as he scored 14 runs off 15 balls.

“Idea was to capitalize on wicket like that, after that Miller came in and we were stuck too, we need to figure these things, try to find best combination going forward. We haven’t thought about as of now, we need to regroup, just got to play the next game fresh.” Pant told the broadcasters after the match.

Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Sunday.