There can't be many worse days than the one that Rishabh Pant endured in Jaipur. Even before he took field against Rajasthan Royals, the national selectors dealt him a double blow. Not only did they drop Pant from the ODI squad, but more significantly, they took him out of the leadership group in his best format, Test cricket. India's greatest wicketkeeper-batter in Tests and in line to be the best of all time the world over, Pant had been the vice-captain to Shubman Gill on the critical tour of England last year; in Gill's absence, he was India's captain in the last Test they played, against South Africa in Guwahati.
Then Pant went for the toss and had an awkward interaction with Ian Bishop, which was just miscommunication but got undue traction. He ended the night on the losing side and with another awkward interview, which is sure to earn him a sanction. And incredulity at calling LSG a "f***ing good team" despite being at the bottom of the table, having won just four of their 13 matches.
Between these two events that involved little cricket, Pant was central to Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) slowdown that kept them 20-30 short of what they looked good for. Pant came in at 151 for 2 in the 13th over, but managed to get 35 off 23 as LSG tapered off to score just 220, which proved to be insufficient.
Pant has now played each of LSG's 27 matches since being bought for a record-breaking INR 27 crore, and has scored 555 runs at a strike rate of 136.69, well below his career record of 144.18. He has made no bones about "too many minds" in the leadership group at LSG, which includes formidable names of Justin Langer, Tom Moody and Kane Williamson to go with the well-regarded bowling coach, Bharat Arun.
One of those minds, perhaps the most important one outside of the captain and the owner, head coach Langer ended Pant's night with a bit more misery at the press conference.
"Look, Rishabh has been around for a long time," Langer said. "I think he started playing in the Indian side when he was 18 years old. He understands it. And numbers don't lie. So he would be the first to admit it's been two very disappointing seasons for him with the bat.
"He has had some great innings, but he'll be disappointed with those numbers. You know, you expect a lot from your senior players, and he'll be feeling it as much as anyone."
Pant started his time at LSG at No. 4, but ended the last IPL with a century from No. 3. This year he opened in the first match, but moved to No. 3 in no time. His results meant that it was him who had to drop down the order again to make the best use of Nicholas Pooran. That the captain hasn't been able to nail down a role for himself speaks of his results and the lack of clarity around what he can bring to the team.
In a side that Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis have produced fantastic results of late at the top of the order, in a line-up that Aiden Markram play the role of a No. 4 after Pooran at 3, perhaps it might be time for Pant to take a leaf out of his idol MS Dhoni's book and train to be a six-hitter lower down the order?