Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis pointed to Rishabh Pant as the player likely to face the most pressure in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, given his captaincy role at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and the team's title aspirations.
Pant's monumental Rs 27 crore deal last year made him the priciest player in IPL history, raising expectations at LSG. Pant's debut season fell short of expectations, failing to match the anticipation surrounding his record-breaking deal. Despite only a century, his overall numbers were subper, with the ton coming in a dead rubber match.
"For me, Rishabh Pant is probably the player in the IPL who is under the most pressure this season. Some guys flourish under the pressure of the price tag, while some don't. I think last season was a really tough one for him. The team struggled, and he also struggled with runs in the way that he batted," Du Plessis told Jio Hotstar.
"So, there is all that pressure coming into the season, along with the expectations of what the team is going to do. With a batting-heavy team, how are they going to maximise their bowling? Because there is pressure on your captain, scoring runs is your first job. "So, if he is scoring runs as a captain, it takes pressure off in the first instance. But then there is a second instance, which is the team performance overall. And last year, both of those things had big red crosses against them," he observed.
Pant's form is definitely under the microscope, given his struggles last season with just 269 runs in 13 matches at an average of 24.45.
LSG will start the IPL 2026 campaign against the Delhi Capitals at the Ekana Stadium on April 1.