New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has delivered a pointed critique of Rishabh Pant’s T20 performance, pointing out why the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) leader’s considerable talent has not consistently shown in the shortest format before IPL 2026.

Pant carries high expectations as both a batter and a leader. While his aggressive stroke play has made him one of the most exciting players in world cricket, questions remain over his consistency in T20s.

Breaking down Pant’s approach, du Plessis highlighted the numerous options in the left-hander’s game as both a strength and a challenge.

“The talent that Rishabh Pant has is tremendous. 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 hit 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 will score their boundaries and where they have slight weaknesses,” du Plessis told JioStar.

“They work their way through that. With Pant, I feel he is always on the edge. When you watch him play, you feel he can get out at any time because it is almost frantic at times. The surprising number for me 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 watch him in Test cricket playing these extravagant, exuberant innings, taking the game on. We almost feel that should just happen in T20 cricket as well,” he added.

With LSG assembling a strong top order featuring Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, du Plessis also weighed in on where Pant could best fit into the batting lineup.

“Looking at LSG’s 2026 auction and their strategy around who they signed, you look at that top-heavy batting line-up – Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran are the main ones alongside Pant. Pooran is maybe the only guy who can slide down. But the success Marsh and Markram had at the top of the order for LSG last season is probably something I would expect them to start with again.

“So, maybe there is an opportunity for Pant to bat at number three. The numbers suggest that for him to be the best player he can be, number three looks good. I see him batting at number three for LSG this season with Nicholas Pooran sliding down to number four,” he stated.

Du Plessis further stressed that Pant needs to bring clarity to his T20 blueprint, especially in the early stages of his innings, to achieve greater consistency.

“Rishabh Pant’s stroke play is one that looks all over the place. There is some sort of method and game plan that goes into his head. He has a blueprint for how he wants to play Test cricket. The same thing applies in T20 cricket. He needs to figure out exactly what his game plan looks like to give himself the best chance. Not to be a one out of ten or two out of ten kind of player, but to be in the 60 to 70 per cent range where he can have consistency. To do that, you can’t premeditate every ball,” he noted.

“That is too high risk. Yes, you might hit a few sixes and play a couple of good innings. But when teams bowl wide to him, he is good enough to have something else in his armoury to hit through the offside. His game plan is not one-dimensional. He can score all around the ground. For me, it is about his first six balls. When I look at him, he is almost like a highlight player. I want him to be more of a high-impact player in terms of what he can give in his numbers,” he stated further.

–IANS

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