Pujara’s comment came after Pant walked out to bat at No. 7 against DC.
Pujara’s comment came after Pant walked out to bat at No. 7 during LSG’s IPL 2025 match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday (April 21).
The southpaw bagged a two-ball duck after coming into bat in the final over of LSG’s innings. The likes of Abdul Samad, David Miller and Impact Sub Ayush Badoni batted ahead of Pant, much to the shock of the fans and experts.
“I genuinely don't know what the thought process was. But there's no doubt - he should be batting higher up the order. He's trying to do what MS Dhoni does, but he's nowhere near that level. I still feel he's someone who should be batting during the middle overs, between the 6th and 15th. He's not a finisher, and he shouldn't be doing the job of one,” Pujara told ESPNCricinfo.
Coming to the match, LSG suffered a crushing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of DC. Invited to bat first, the hosts posted 159/6 on the board and the visitors overhauled the target with 13 deliveries to spare.
After the game, Rishabh Pant addressed the decision to bat in the lower order, saying that the idea was for Samad to capitalize on the track, where the ball was slightly gripping in the first innings.
"The idea was to capitalise. We sent Samad to capitalise on a wicket like that. After that, Miller came in and we just got stuck on the wicket. Eventually, these are the things we’ve got to figure out and try to find our best combination going forward," Pant said at the post-match presentation.
Moreover, Pant explained that Badoni was being used as an Impact Sub to accommodate tearaway pacer Mayank Yadav in the line-up. His reasoning did not make much sense as LSG were batting first and Mayank himself was named in the Impact Player list.
"We are impacting Ayush, to get Mayank some game time, just trying to find ways to get him early in the season because it's already halfway around. He came from NCA now, just trying to fit him in," he remarked.
Lucknow Super Giants are currently reeling at the fifth spot on the 10-team points table. They will next face Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (April 27).