NEW DELHI: With Rishabh Pant enduring a torrid IPL 2025 season, former Australia captain Aaron Finch has suggested a bold change: the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper should hand over wicketkeeping duties to Nicholas Pooran to improve on-field communication and regain clarity in leadership.
Pant’s struggles continued in LSG’s 37-run loss to Punjab Kings, where he scored a sluggish 18 off 17 in a daunting 237-run chase. With just 128 runs from 10 innings at a strike rate of 99.22, this marks his worst IPL showing since his debut in 2016.
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Speaking on Jiostar, Finch highlighted how the dual role of captain and keeper could be hampering Pant’s effectiveness. “It must be really difficult to captain a side when you’re the wicketkeeper. You probably get a couple of seconds to talk to your bowler between overs, and with the stop-clock rule, that time is minimal,” Finch explained.
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He added that Pooran often acts as the communication bridge between Pant and the bowlers but emphasised that indirect messaging can disrupt strategy execution. “That can be really difficult — the bowler’s plan might change ball to ball, and so might Rishabh’s. You can see how animated and frustrated he is when things don’t go to plan.”
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Finch advised Pant to step out of the gloves temporarily: “Maybe it’s time he says, ‘Pooran, you take the gloves. I need to get rhythm, manage plans better, and talk to my attack directly.’”
He pointed out how captains like Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill maintain constant communication from inside the ring — something Pant might benefit from replicating.
With LSG now in a must-win zone, leadership clarity could be vital in their playoff push.
