Rayudu slams Rishabh Pant's 'stubborn' mindset

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant is struggling with the bat in IPL 2025 because of being 'stubborn' by not changing his batting order or approach despite the lack of runs, said former India player Ambati Rayudu.

Pant, the most expensive player in the history of IPL at Rs 27 crore, has struggled to live up to his top billing. He has managed just 128 runs in 10 innings, at a strike rate of 99.22 with just one fifty.

He has registered six scores in single digits which included two ducks -- both against his former team Delhi Capitals.

The burden of captaincy seems to be also affecting the 27-year-old with LSG struggling at seventh place, with five wins from 11 matches.

Rayudu, who played a total of 204 IPL matches for Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, wants Pant to shift to the opening role because he doesn't have the right mindset

to bat in the middle order.

"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, try and get better every day. That's all you can do," he added.

Rayudu wants Pant to switch to the opener's role in the IPL because he believes the left-hander doesn't have the mindset to bat in the middle order.

"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 stated.

• IPL 2025