Rishabh Pant in action during IPL 2026© BCCI
Former England cricket team skipper Michael Vaughan urged Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant to take notes from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during the ongoing IPL 2026. Pant opened the batting for his team during the match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday but was dismissed for 7. There has been a lot of chatter over Pant’s performances in T20s after a disappointing IPL season in 2025. Despite costing a massive Rs 27 crore, he was unable to take LSG to the playoffs and faced a lot of criticism from both fans as well as experts. Vaughan said that the wicket-keeper batter has fallen down the ranks when it comes to the national side and asked him to take lessons from Sooryavanshi’s aggressive brand of cricket.
“He’s playing for a country that’s got so much depth. He would get into every other nation’s team because of the skillset – he can whack the ball, is a good keeper and a good thinker. But when it comes to playing for India, you’ve got Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, and Jitesh Sharma. There’s a galaxy of wicketkeeper batters, and it’s not going to be easy for him. The biggest profile and the biggest stage are now. For him to have another humdinger of an IPL – bat well, captain well. If I were him, I would be watching Sooryavanshi. Because when Rishabh plays, it reminds me a lot of him. It’s just the free spirit. Rishabh should bat at No. 3, try to whack it out of the park. His mindset should be ‘I can hit a 100 off 48 balls,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.
Legendary India fast bowler Zaheer Khan recalled Pant’s journey in T20 cricket and said that he has achieved a lot in IPL.
“It’s an interesting one. Because for me, he is someone who has that impact across formats. He might not have the numbers to show right now, but other than that, he has been ticking a lot of boxes in this format as well. It’s just that comparisons are made with his Test numbers. Which are so good and impactful that you expect the same returns, or maybe even surpass them. He’s the fastest to score 3000 runs; he’s been around for 10 years now. He’s achieved a lot in IPL. In T20Is, he needs to stabilise the position he bats at. He can bat at any number, but that’s what makes it confusing. Also, he can do a little to find balance in his own approach,” mentioned Zaheer.