Rishabh Pant has been out of India's T20I setup.
Rishabh Pant has been out of India’s white-ball setup, especially T20Is, and he must perform exceedingly well in IPL 2026 to press a case for his return. According to The Indian Express, Pant has worked on his fitness by losing a lot of weight and other technical aspects of his game ahead of a defining season.
Since November last year, the southpaw has been working with Soham Desai, who has previously worked with India and currently remains with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL. Pant’s focus has been on training smarter rather than harder, with work done on agility and movement.
Since a major accident in December 2022, his fitness has often been under the scanner, for the 28-year-old has faced numerous injury concerns that have kept him out of action at times. Being a wicketkeeper-batter, his workload has been higher than that of most other players, and with time, he must keep improving his fitness to match the standards.
Rishabh Pant also had a domestic stint with Delhi and spent some time with his family in Uttarakhand to recharge himself ahead of a gruelling season. That was possible since he wasn’t part of India’s T20I plans, which gave him some time off before the grind.
As reported earlier, Rishabh Pant worked with Yuvraj Singh in Mumbai before joining LSG’s pre-season camp in Chennai at Bharat Arun’s academy. Yuvraj worked on his bat swing, maintaining shape, along with clarity in shot selections – the aspects that worked brilliantly for someone like Abhishek Sharma.
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Later, on Friday (March 13), Pant had a rigorous training session in Chennai, spending three and a half hours in an open net to face pacers and spinners. Initially, he hit fuller-length deliveries down the ground before going back and whacking shorter lengths towards the mid-wicket region.
Later, Rishabh Pant moved to off-side drills in the same session, instructing pacers to bowl wider lines and yorkers to test his range. On one such delivery bowled by Avesh Khan, the dynamic batter played a scoop shot with the audacity only he brings, apart from several other quality shots.
LSG’s assistant coach, Lance Klusener, and bowling coach, Bharat Arun, monitored the session closely and gave their inputs. Eventually, Pant’s IPL 2026 performances will decide how far he remains from India’s white-ball setup, and a big season with the willow would help amidst the rise of several wicketkeeper-batters in the circuit.
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