Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 will start on 28 March 2026. Ahead of the IPL, cricketers who were not part of the T20 World Cup 2026 setup have already joined their respective franchise camps and are getting ready for the toughest T20 league in the world.
Among them, Rishabh Pant has also been seen taking special lessons from former India batsman Yuvraj Singh, who has shaped the careers of many young cricketers like Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson in recent times.
Rishabh Pant is busy preparing for IPL
Rishabh Pant is not an obvious choice for the Men in Blue in either the T20 or ODI squad. However, he is currently the most expensive player in IPL history. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for a whopping price of Rs 27 crore. However, last season the southpaw failed to perform as per expectations.
Rishabh Pant scored 269 runs at an average of 24.45, which included only one half-century and one century. Ahead of the next season, Pant will be under immense pressure as he needs to take a big step forward for the franchise, as he is also the captain of the team.
He is probably the player under most pressure in IPL – Faf du Plessis
Former Chennai Super Kings batsman Faf du Plessis has said that Rishabh Pant is the only player who will be under question. Du Plessis pointed to Pant’s struggles with the bat and the franchise’s poor performance last season as LSG finished 7th in the league table. While speaking on StarSports, Pant was asked about the pressure on him as a captain and batsman.
Faf du Plessis said, “For me, he is probably the player in the IPL who is under the most pressure this season. We always talk about price-tag pressure. Some people thrive in that price-tag pressure, and some people don’t. Last season was a really tough season for him. The team struggled, and his runs also struggled, the way he batted.”
So that’s all the pressure – Faf du Plessis
The former CSK opener also said that if LSG needs to play good cricket, Rishabh Pant will have to score runs with the bat to lead the team with less pressure on his back.
Faf du Plessis further added, “So when he comes into this season there is all the pressure on him, and the expectations of what the team is going to do. With a heavy batting team, how are they going to maximize the bowling?”
“If he’s scoring runs as a captain, firstly it takes the pressure off you, but then the second example is the team, and last year, they both had big red crosses on their names.”
Rishabh Pant’s only century came in the final game of the season against defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he scored 118 runs off 61 balls. Lucknow Super Giants will be back in action against Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 1. At present, the schedule of 20 matches has been announced by IPL.
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