India, May 5 -- When Rishabh Pant was bought for a whopping Rs.27 crore at the IPL 2025 mega-auction last November, making him the costliest player in the history of the Indian Premier League, expectations were sky high. Here was India's star wicketkeeper batter, considered by many a legend in Tests already. With his place in ODIs and T20Is far from certain, IPL 2025 was believed to be the breakout year for Pant. A leadership role at Lucknow Super Giants, which boasted stars like Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and David Miller, was expected to elevate him to a superstardom like Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni - at least that's what LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka promised.

However, six months later, nothing of that sort has happened. In fact, Pant an...