When Rishabh Pant became the most expensive signing in the history of the Indian Premier League after being picked up by the Lucknow Super Giants for a staggering ₹27 crore at the 2025 mega auction, there were huge expectations. However, the season turned out to be far from what LSG had imagined. They struggled to find consistency and ended up finishing seventh on the points table. Pant’s underwhelming performance was also a big setback for LSG. 

Across 13 innings, Pant could muster only 269 runs. However, he ended the season on a high with a century in the team’s final match. Meanwhile, ahead of IPL 2026, former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis underlined Pant's technique, stressing that there has to be a method for T20 batting. He also pointed out too many options going on in his head at the crease.

"You look at him playing Test cricket and you think, this guy has all the shots. When I look at his game, I feel he has too many options in his head. He feels like he can score a six off every ball to any part of the ground. But in T20 batting, you still need a method. You need a game plan for how you go about your business. Look at all the great T20 players. You can almost have an idea of where they are going to score their boundaries and where they have slight weaknesses. They work their way through that," Faf du Plessis said on Star Sports. 

"With Pant, I feel he is always on the edge. When you watch him play, you feel he can get out at any stage because it is almost frantic at some stages. But for me, the really surprising number is his T20 strike-rate, which is around 130. How is that possible for a guy with so many shots? Maybe it is because we look at him and think the innings that he plays in Test cricket is extravagant, exuberant innings, taking the game on. We almost feel that should just happen in T20 cricket as well,” Faf said.

South African captain Faf du Plessis also questioned the logic behind Pant’s record-breaking price tag.

"You look at players like Pant in the auction and ask why there is such a big craze over someone like him if the game of T20 has evolved so much in terms of numbers from the analysts and coaches who are highly detailed on numbers. If you look at his T20 numbers, it's not that great. So why is there such an obsession with him? Even in the previous auction, everyone wanted him in their team," du Plessis said