LSG captain Rishabh Pant has been in poor form in the ongoing IPL. And, veteran batter Ambati Rayudu has said that the LSG captain is in “very, very bad patch” as well. Rayudu also said that Pant does not have the mindset to play in the middle order, and he is better suited to play as an opener as well. Notably, Pant became the most expensive buy at the last IPL auction at INR 27 crore as well, and he could only manage 128 runs in ten innings so far.

“I think, at this point in time, I’m feeling very sorry for him because he’s not been changing his batting order or his approach,” Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out. “I think he’s being pretty stubborn about how he wants to go about things. It’s not working in his favour at the moment. It happens in this sport, to be very honest, and he is going through a very, very bad patch. It can happen to anybody. I just hope that he takes this learning and improves on it and doesn’t become even more stubborn, but just accept the fact that he is struggling and start doing things a little differently [and] try and get better every day. That’s all you can do.”

“I think more than anything it’s just the clarity of what he wants to do because Pant ideally for me is an opener in white-ball cricket, because in the middle order he has not been great. I know he loves playing in the middle but he doesn’t have the batsmanship that is required or the skill set. Maybe he has the skillset, but not the mindset to execute that,” he further added.

However, Rishabh Pant batted in a different batting order after starting this season at No. 4, going to 6 in one match, opening in another, then dropping to No. 7, but returning to No. 4 again as well.