Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant celebrates after scoring a century during the IPL 2025 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on May 27. Photo: AP
Rishabh Pant marked the end of his rather forgettable IPL 2025 campaign on a high, scoring a quickfire hundred (118 off 61 balls) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday. The century, however, went in vain as RCB won the match by 6 wickets.
It was only his second noteworthy innings this season. Earlier this season, he had scored just a half-century - a 63 against the Chennai Super Kings, but has misfired for most of the season.
The most expensive player of IPL 2025, Pant was bought by LSG for Rs 27 crore. He now wants to "switch off" from cricket for a few days before leaving India for the gruelling five-match England Test series, starting June 20 in Leeds, in a "good frame of mind." Pant has been named as Shubman Gill's deputy for the Test series.
Pant's century, which included 8 sixes and 11 boundaries, helped LSG post a mammoth 227 for 3 in the stipulated 20 overs. RCB, however, chased down the total, with Virat Kohli scoring a half-century. Jitesh Sharma's 33-ball 85 and Mayank Agarwal's 23-ball 41 pulled off a memorable win to seal their place in Qualifier 1.
As it was the final game for Pant in IPL 2025, he said, "Just want to switch off for a few days, not think about cricket and then the England series is coming up and just preparing for that in a good frame of mind."
Asked about the hundred, Pant said, "I was feeling well with each and every match but sometimes it just doesn't come off. Today I made sure that if I am starting well I should make a big one. Like all the experienced players do, learning from the best always."
"Whenever you get a start, try to make it as big as possible. I was trying to play the field, how they were going to bowl, that was something I kept in mind. Playing through the line and looking for the areas and the gaps and kept it very simple," he added.
"Played every ball with the same intensity and kept on playing with the same intensity throughout the innings," Pant said.
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