Rishabh Pant's Horror Cream Story in Dharamshala

That cheeky smile has gone missing. That grin can’t be found. Rishabh Pant just seems dejected and frustrated. For someone who’s literally fought death off, he seems sadder now than he was recovering from his accident. And one must admit, it just feels wrong. For someone who brought a smile to your face with his audacious shot-making, see the smile vanish from Pant’s face just sit right.

Nothing going right for Rishabh Pant

After 10 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Pant had scored just 110 runs from 112 balls. Form wasn’t helping him. And then, being named Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain, that too with a Rs 27 crore price tag, surely wasn’t helping him either.

LSG were on the verge of missing out on the IPL 2025 playoffs. Pant has extremely high expectations of himself. It’s just he’s not been able to match them; it’s that he’s a net negative. Before his failure against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamshala, ESPNcricinfo had rated Pant 177th on their MVP (most valuable player) rating. Fourth worst of the IPL 2025 season.

Drudgery in Dharamshala

And his rating won’t improve. Against PBKS, the LSG captain came into the middle with the scorecard reading 16/2 in 2.5 overs. Mind you, they needed 237 to win. He couldn’t get ball on bat at the start. There was a failed ramp shot. He couldn’t punish short balls from Yuzvendra Chahal.

Was scolding Ayush Badoni for not running non-existent singles and for some reason was trying to sneak a single from wide balls down the leg in the 8th over of the match. Then on the very next ball, he tried to hit the ball so hard that the bat slipped from his hand and was caught.