It’s been a season of repeated setbacks for Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant, who has failed to demonstrate his belligerent batting skills in the ongoing IPL. Pant, who is known for his threatening and explosive batting, has continued his endless quest for batting excellence. Having only scored 128 runs from 11 games, he has been going through a tough phase.

Things became more complex on Sunday when his side, LSG, slipped to a 37-run defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings, complicating their playoffs chances. Meanwhile, commenting on Pant’s performance, former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu feels that the left-handed batter is more suited to bat as an opener than as a middle-order batter.

"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 was quoted as saying 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 (and) try and get better every day. That's all you can do,” Rayudu said.

Rayudu emphasised that Pant should open the innings for LSG. 

"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."