During a live broadcast on a popular Indian sports YouTube channel, a presenter’s frustration reached new heights after Rishabh Pant’s performance in the IPL 2025 match between Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The anchor, visibly enraged by Pant’s struggles with the bat, lost control on-air and broke studio equipment, including smashing a TV screen and pushing the glass table in front of him.
The anchor’s anger was triggered by Pant’s lack of impact. Despite his significant reputation in T20 cricket, Pant’s strike rate this season has been underwhelming. In an unfiltered rant, the presenter called Pant ‘predictable’ and questioned his leadership. He said, “IPL is happening, and he had his chance, but I’m telling you, he has become predictable. You cannot trust him. What kind of a captain is he? We don’t need a captain like him!”
Pant, who has been under immense pressure after LSG spent a record ₹27 crore on him in the IPL mega auction, has failed to live up to the high expectations. After a duck in the opening game against Delhi Capitals, he managed just 15 runs off 15 balls in the match against SRH.
Across his first two innings, he’s faced 21 balls, hitting only six runs and failing to score any boundaries. To make matters worse, his wicketkeeping and captaincy during LSG’s narrow loss to Delhi Capitals had already drawn heavy criticism.
Rishabh Pant on winning the first match of IPL 2025
Following the victory, Pant while speaking in the post match presentation said, “Big relief but as a team we talk about the process. It’s not about getting too high when you win and not about getting too low when you lose. As a team, we can’t focus on uncontrollables, my mentor said focus on controllables and that is what I did. Good to see the way Prince bowled and also Thakur was really good. (On Pooran batting at No. 3) I think we just want to give freedom to him. You got to give someone the charge when he is batting well and he has batted brilliantly for us. The group is coming up nicely, we haven’t played our best so far but happy to get a win.”
