As Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ended their Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) campaign on Tuesday, their captain Rishabh Pant wants a short break before shifting his focus to an upcoming five-match Test series against England, starting June 20.
Pant is one of the important pillars holding India in the transition phase in the Test format following Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirements.
He was recently appointed the vice-captain of the Indian Test team with Shubman Gill taking over the leadership from Rohit.
Also read: IPL 2025 - Double Whammy For Rishabh Pant: LSG Captain Fined INR 30 Lakh After RCB Loss
Rishabh Pant Looks to Reset Before England Test Series
Rishabh Pant is not one to dwell too long on highs or lows. Minutes after the loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final league match of IPL 2025, the LSG skipper was already talking about the next challenge that comes in the form of a five-match Test series versus England.
But before switching formats, Pant wants to rest for a few days and recharge himself for what is going to be a start of a new era for India in Test cricket.
"Just want to switch off for a few days, not think about cricket and then the England series is coming up-just preparing for that in a good frame of mind," Pant said as quoted in the post-match presentation.
Though LSG batters, especially Pant, wreaked havoc with the bat, their bowlers undid all the hard work, failing to defend 227 runs and lost in the 19th over by six wickets. Emphasising on this, Pant stated:
"You've got to play 40 overs of good cricket. Twenty overs will definitely not save you in a T20 game, and that's been our story. There were a lot of injury concerns before the tournament-that's something that hurt us throughout the season."
Before the RCB clash, the southpaw had scored only 151 runs in 12 innings in the ongoing season. However, Pant signed off on a high personally, hammering his second IPL ton in a knock decorated with 11 fours and eight sixes.
Speaking on his innings, the 27-year-old talked about reading the bowlers’ mind and keeping things simple while batting.
"I was feeling better with each match, but sometimes it just doesn't come off. Today I wanted to make it count. Like the experienced players do-when you get a start, make it big. I was trying to read the field, predict how they'd bowl, and kept things simple. Played every ball with the same intensity throughout the innings," Pant concluded.
Zaheer Khan Praises Rishabh Pant’s Leadership
Though there was a lot of scrutiny on Pant for the way he captained LSG in IPL 2025, their mentor Zaheer Khan showered praises on the former, calling him a good leader.
LSG finished seventh on the IPL 2025 points table with six wins and eight losses.
"Well, he's been good as a leader. That was a bright positive for us throughout the season. The form with the bat was definitely a learning experience for him, having this kind of season. But his ability and calibre are not in doubt. That's how we are looking at it. We're happy he finished on a strong note - that's the calibre he has, and the impact he can have on the game," said Zaheer Khan.
