IPL 2025: 3 reasons why LSG made a big mistake buying Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crores

Lucknow Super Giants splurged INR 27 crores to acquire Rishabh Pant at the IPL 2025 auction.

Rishabh Pant is part of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. LSG made him the costliest player ever in IPL history by buying him for INR 27 crores. They also made him the skipper for IPL 2025

Rishabh Pant was the poster boy of Delhi Capitals (DC) (Previously Delhi Daredevils) for the last few seasons. He started his IPL career with DC and became a crucial member in a few years with his wicket-keeping abilities and hard-hitting batting style. In IPL 2021, the left-handed batsman became DC’s skipper after Shreyas Iyer was unavailable for the tournament.

Later, DC parted ways with Iyer next season and made Pant their full-time skipper with the additional role of wicket-keeper. However, after the wicket-keeper failed to lead DC to title triumph in the following seasons before getting released by the franchise ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction.

During the auction, LSG left no stone unturned to steal Pant from the rival franchises. Notably, he has been the first-choice wicket-keeper batter for Team India since 2021. Hence, LSG opened their pockets and rained INR 27 crores to grab Pant.

However, it looks like one of the biggest blunders at the IPL 2025 mega auction. Below we glance at three reasons why LSG made a big mistake buying Pant for INR 27 crores.

Three reasons why LSG made a big mistake by splurging INR 27 crores on Rishabh Pant

1. Not a powerful captain

Rishabh Pant led DC from IPL 2021 to IPL 2024, however, he could not lead the team to the title. DC finished in the top spot in the 2021 season, but failed to reach the final by losing back-to-back games in the playoffs.

Later, they could not reach the playoffs for the next three seasons. Interestingly, DC finished as runners-up in the 2020 season under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy.

2. Not a consistent batter in the shortest format

Rishabh Pant has been a powerful batter when it comes to the longer formats. For instance, he helped India to win the historic Gabba test in 2021 against Australia. However, he has not been too consistent in the shortest format.

The left-handed batter had an average of 40+ in the 2024 edition of IPL. However, from 2020 to 2022, he averaged between 30-35.

From the 2020 to 2024 seasons, he slammed only seven half-centuries across five seasons. Hence, spending INR 27 crores on him does not make sense if we go by his batting stats in the shortest format.

3. Poor show for LSG in IPL 2025

So far in IPL 2025, Pant’s batting show has not matched his expensive salary. In LSG’s opening clash against Delhi Capitals, the left-handed batter got out for a six-ball duck.

In the second game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the wicket-keeper batter added 15 runs off 15 balls, including one six. In his third outing, he managed to score just two runs against PBKS.

The LSG skipper has struggled with his strike rate in the initial games and does not look in amazing form like last season of the IPL.

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