The Final Appearance of Rishabh Pant for LSG Sparked a Wave of Memes

From Criticism to Celebration: Rishabh Pant’s Last Stand for LSG Ignites Internet Frenzy

To be honest Rishabh Pant’s season as a batsman in the Indian Premier League was a messy one. Due to his frequent batting problems the 27-year-old was constantly scrutinized by cricket fans after taking over as captain of the Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG) from the departing KL Rahul. The wicketkeeper-batter who was purchased by owner Sanjiv Goenkas LSG at a record-breaking Rs 27 crore in the mega auction was only able to score 151 runs in 13 IPL 2025 games. This would all change on Tuesday night in Lucknow when LSG and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) faced off as the dangerous good ol Pant made a comeback. The home team, asked to bat first, scored an incredible 227 for 3 in their allotted 20 overs. The captain Pant alone scored 118* of them achieving an incredible century in just 54 deliveries. 

The LSG captain’s knock which included eight maximums and eleven boundaries sparked a lot of social media reactions and memes even though Pants century was ultimately in vain because RCB captain Jitesh Sharma (85*) and Mayank Agarwal (41*) stitched a spectacular and undefeated partnership of 107 to send the Men in Red to Qualifier 1. 

Front Flip

To mark his stylish ton against RCB, Pant did a front flip. Some people found his vivacious celebrations to be cold. 

While Others had Memes

Pic 1- Sanju Samson after scoring a 100 vs South Africa on a tough pitch
Pic 2-Rishabh Pant after scoring a century on a flat road in an irrelevant pitch against washed bhuvi and Romario with 2 catch drops pic.twitter.com/BHIJTc02dY

— Abhi ⛷️ (@100off40) May 27, 2025

Withdrawn Appeal

Digvesh Rathi, the eccentric leg spinner for LSG delighted the bails and the Internet when he halted his progress to try to run out LSG captain Jitesh Sharma with a Mankad at the non-strikers end. Rathi noticed that Sharma had left the safe zone a little too soon on the fifth delivery of the seventeenth over. The bowler disrupted the bails by stepping out of his delivery stride. Sharma was declared not out after the on-field umpire went upstairs and carefully examined every angle. Pant had already retracted the appeal though in the midst of everything. Pant was embraced by RCB batsman Sharma for his energetic performance.

Words of Praise

Despite his team’s defeat today Rishabh Pant held his ground. After making a spectacular hundred he later withdrew his appeal against Jitesh Sharma. Former India cricket player and commentator Mohammad Kaif wrote on his X account Pant demonstrates that sports are about more than just winning and losing (sic).

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Criticism

Some questioned why despite the TV umpires decision to declare Jitesh Sharma not-out Pant retracted his run-out appeal. Mankad, a perfectly acceptable method of getting a batter out at the non-striker’s end has long been frowned upon; it was only strengthened when Pant decided to support the spirit of the game when his bowler needed the captain’s support. Why was it praised as a heartwarming gesture?

A batter should be penalized for leaving his crease when he shouldn’t if a bowler is penalized for hitting his back foot over the line. It’s disappointing that Pant didn’t have his bowlers back, an X user commented. 

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Sanjiv Goenka

Since the franchise owners on-field altercation and subsequent fallout with KL Rahul during the previous IPL season Sanjiv Goenka the owner of LSG has had to deal with the fury of irate IPL fans. Since the owners’ animated outburst in front of the cameras wasn’t the healthiest way to handle a disappointing loss the critics and viewers took Rahul’s side. Since Pant is now Rahul’s replacement every time Pant stumbled or the team lost a match the owner was the focus of the cameras and attention. The questions each time Goenka appeared on the enormous screen were: Would Goenka react? Would Pant have a similar outburst?

Goenka has been on the radar of memers during the IPL 2025 season as a result of fans singling her out. 

With six victories and eight losses Pants LSG was content to take seventh place in the standings.