LSG owner walks back in anger as ₹27-crore superstar Rishabh Pant fails again

As always before a Lucknow Super Giants game, the club's social media handles hyped up their captain, Rishabh Pant. "The hunger in his eyes," LSG captioned a Pant shot from the nets ahead of the toss in Lucknow on Monday.

But when it came to the actual match, against a struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad side, Pant failed to deliver, yet again. The LSG skipper was dismissed for just 7 runs off 6 balls by Eshan Malinga, taking a stunner off his own bowling.

Pant had promoted himself to the third slot after openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram had forged a spectacular 115-run stand in 10.2 overs. But even the favourable batting surface couldn't change his fortunes as he failed to live up to the high expectations.

Despite Pant's failure with the bat, LSG posted 205/7. But SRH chased it down to end LSG's playoff chances. Abhishek Sharma (59) and Heinrich Klaasen (47) helped SRH chase down the solid total in 18.2 overs. 

Pant's poor form showed no signs of recovery despite a break in the season necessitated by the India-Pakistan tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack. The IPL season was suspended for almost 10 days, waiting for the tensions to ease.

Before the break, Pant had made just one fifty in 11 innings, going at a lowly average of 12. Pant began the season with a six-ball duck and has been dismissed for single digits on six other occasions. He top scored with 63 against Chennai Super Kings in mid-April, while the next best score was 21 against Gujarat Titans.

Pant entered the season as the costliest player in the league's 18-year history. LSG splashed a record ₹27 crore for the left-hander in the auction. Television footage after Pant's latest dismissal showed LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka retiring to the box, seemingly upset by the star player's lack of runs.