Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant's uneven form mirrors his team's broader struggles in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but head coach Justin Langer says the player is not weighed down by his hefty price tag.
Lucknow secured the stumper-batsman for an eye-watering $3.21 million in 2024 and retained him for the current season, which has unfolded poorly.
Monday's six-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians marked Lucknow's sixth consecutive loss, leaving them anchored to the bottom of the 10-team league and with playoff hopes in disarray.
"I don't think money has to do anything with it," Langer, an Australian, told reporters.
"Leadership is a tough position ... he's carrying a lot of pressure for the team, and he does it, like all of us, with a smile on our face, 98 per cent of the time.
"It's the 2 per cent that's hard, to be honest. But he's chipping away, he's working hard, and he's had a match-winning game earlier in the season. I love it when we see him smiling and playing that swashbuckling style of play."
Pant's 204 runs from nine innings with a strike rate of 128.30 is underwhelming for a batter of his stature.
Langer said Pant, who moved down to No 4 to accommodate Nicholas Pooran at No 3 against Mumbai, was not far from regaining his touch.
"He selflessly moved down the order...to let Nicky P back. Rishy's not far off (from a big score)," Langer said.
"He's great. As a captain in the IPL, as a coach, you keep fronting up, don't you? That's all you can do. And you'll keep fronting up, and hopefully, he'll help us get some wins over the next few games."
Against Mumbai, Lucknow racked up 228-5 but still could not defend the total.
"The way we started, we should have definitely got more runs," Pant said after the match, adding they were "short by 10-15 runs".
"The way we started we had an edge over them."