Pant not feeling the price tag pressure, says Langer

Lucknow
Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant's uneven form mirrors his team's broader
struggles in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but head coach Justin Langer says
the player is not weighed down by his hefty price tag.
Lucknow
secured the stumper-batsman for an eye-watering $3.21 million in 2024 and
retained him for the current season, which has unfolded poorly.
Monday's
six-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians marked Lucknow's sixth consecutive loss,
leaving them anchored to the bottom of the 10-team league and with playoff
hopes in disarray.
"I
don't think money has to do anything with it," Langer, an Australian, told
reporters.
"Leadership
is a tough position ... he's carrying a lot of pressure for the team, and he
does it, like all of us, with a smile on our face, 98% of the time.
"It's
the 2% that's hard, to be honest. But he's chipping away, he's working hard,
and he's had a match-winning game earlier in the season. I love it when we see
him smiling and playing that swashbuckling style of play."
Pant's 204
runs from nine innings with a strike rate of 128.30 is underwhelming for a
batter of his stature.
Langer
said Pant, who moved down to number four to accommodate Nicholas Pooran at
number three against Mumbai, was not far from regaining his touch.
"He
selflessly moved down the order...to let Nicky P back. Rishy's not far off
(from a big score)," Langer said.
"He's
great. As a captain in the IPL, as a coach, you keep fronting up, don't you?
That's all you can do. And you'll keep fronting up, and hopefully, he'll help
us get some wins over the next few games."
Against
Mumbai, Lucknow racked up 228-5 but still could not defend the total.
"The
way we started, we should have definitely got more runs," Pant said after
the match, adding they were "short by 10-15 runs".
"The
way we started we had an edge over them."
















