New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis believes that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rishabh Pant will be the player under most pressure in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, which will commence on March 28.

Pant became the most expensive player in the tournament’s history last year when LSG secured the wicketkeeper-batter for Rs 27 crore. However, his performance with the bat failed to justify his price tag. Although he scored a century, his overall performance remained underwhelming, as the ton came when LSG were already out of the race for the playoffs.

Du Plessis highlighted the burden of the price tag and the poor performance last year, which will mount pressure on the LSG skipper. “For me, Rishabh Pant is probably the player in the IPL who is under the most pressure this season. Some guys flourish under the price tag pressure, 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 scored just 269 runs in the 13 matches he played last season at an poor average of 24.45. His form will be in focus when LSG begin their campaign in IPL 2026 against Delhi Capitals at their home ground, Ekana Stadium on April 1.

–IANS

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