New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar has criticised Rishabh Pant’s captaincy, saying that the wicketkeeper-batter needs to show greater clarity and composure as a captain following Lucknow Super Giants’ defeat to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.

LSG slumped to a six-wicket loss despite posting a formidable 228/5 on the back of Nicholas Pooran’s blistering 63 off 21 balls as Mumbai chased down the target comfortably in 18.4 overs, courtesy of a 143-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma (84) and Ryan Rickelton (83), handing LSG their sixth consecutive defeat.

Reflecting on Pant’s leadership during this difficult phase, Bangar pointed out that inconsistency with the bat may be affecting his decision-making and communication as captain.

“Yes, that is the case because if you take that one inning away, I mean if you are scoring runs, I think he would have been far much more clear in terms of his decision making, one and also in whatever he is communicating because it is actually very, very important for a captain to maintain that stability around,” Bangar told ESPNCricinfo.

“You know that inside you are boiling or inside you are hurting, but still at the forefront, you have to actually fake a composure, and that is something which has been lacking so far in whatever we have seen of Rishabh Pant while communicating with the broadcasters,” he added.

Pant, who has been leading LSG this season, has faced mounting pressure as the team continues to struggle at the bottom of the points table with just four points in nine matches. His outing with the bat has also been poor.

In IPL 2026, Rishabh Pant has collected only 204 runs in nine innings at an average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 128.30 with one half-century at the best score of unbeaten 68 runs, which helped them to earn the victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

–IANS

sds/bc