Rishabh Pant has scored 3,804 runs in 137 IPL matches at an average of 33.66, placing him among only five batters to surpass the 3,500-run mark in the league’s history. The Lucknow Super Giants captain — bought for a record ₹27 crore ahead of IPL 2025 — enters the closing weeks of IPL 2026 as one of the most scrutinised batters in the competition. Here’s the complete career breakdown, every number worth knowing, and where the ₹27 crore question currently stands.
Quick Answer — Rishabh Pant IPL Career
Rishabh Pant (born 4 October 1997, Roorkee) plays for Lucknow Super Giants as a left-handed wicketkeeper-batter. Career IPL: 3,804 runs at 33.66 average, career strike rate 144.18, highest score 128* vs SunRisers Hyderabad (2018). The most expensive player in IPL auction history at ₹27 crore (2024 mega auction, retained for 2026).
From Roorkee to Record Auction — Career Story
Pant was barely 18 when Delhi Daredevils picked him up for ₹1.9 crore at the 2016 auction — on the same day he scored a century to send India to the U-19 World Cup semi-final. His first IPL season was tentative: 198 runs in 10 matches, strike rate 130.26, average 24.75. Nothing about those numbers predicted what was coming. By 2017 he was hitting at 165.61; by 2018 he’d turned the format on its head.
The 2018 season is the yardstick everything else gets measured against. Pant struck 684 runs in 14 matches at an average of 52.61 and a strike rate of 173.60 — finishing the season second only to Kane Williamson in the run charts. His 128* against SunRisers Hyderabad, off 69 balls and featuring 14 sixes, permanently altered the way teams planned against left-arm spin when he was at the crease. He was 20 years old. The Delhi Capitals captaincy arrived in 2021; a DC squad short on firepower reached the 2020 IPL Final under his leadership, the franchise’s first in 13 seasons.
A near-fatal car accident in December 2022 wiped out the entire 2023 IPL season. Pant returned for 2024 with 446 runs for Delhi Capitals at a strike rate of 155.40 — proof his instincts hadn’t changed. Lucknow then placed the highest bid in IPL auction history to sign him: ₹27 crore at the 2024 mega auction for the 2025 season, a figure LSG matched when retaining him ahead of IPL 2026. Two seasons in, the numbers have been the quietest of his career. The questions are louder than ever.
📊 The Numbers Behind the Career
Pant sits alongside Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and David Warner as one of only five batters past 3,500 IPL career runs — and his career strike rate of 144.18 outranks three of those four names. The stat that separates his Delhi era from his LSG tenure, though, is stark: across 27 matches since moving to Lucknow, Pant has averaged a combined strike rate of 136.69 — a full 7.5 points below his lifetime figure. For a batter whose power is almost entirely expressed through tempo, that gap is more than a slump. It’s a story.
Rishabh Pant IPL Career — Season by Season
| Season | Team | M | Runs | Avg | SR | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | DC | 10 | 198 | 24.75 | 130.26 | 69 |
| 2017 | DC | — | 366 | 26.14 | 165.61 | — |
| 2018 | DC | 14 | 684 | 52.61 | 173.60 | 128* |
| 2019 | DC | — | 488 | 37.53 | 162.66 | — |
| 2020 | DC | — | 343 | — | 113.95 | — |
| 2021 | DC | — | 419 | — | 128.53 | — |
| 2022 | DC | — | 340 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | Absent (injury) |
| 2024 | DC | 13 | 446 | 40.54 | 155.40 | 88 |
| 2025 | LSG | 14 | 269 | 20.69 | 133.16 | 118* |
| 2026 | LSG | 13* | 286 | — | — | — |
* Season ongoing as of May 2026. Some historic match counts and HS not available from confirmed sources.
The Defining Innings — Two Knocks That Made the Career
In IPL 2018, a 20-year-old Pant walked out for Delhi against SunRisers Hyderabad and proceeded to do something the format hadn’t quite seen from an Indian youngster. He finished on 128 not out off 69 balls — 14 sixes and 7 fours — in an innings built not on placement or rotation but on sheer, repeatable violence. Every bowler who tried the short ball found it launched into the second tier. Every spinner who tossed it up found it used against them. ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball record still reads like a nature documentary for hitting enthusiasts. That knock put Pant on a different plane in the eyes of IPL franchises.
Seven years later, with LSG’s 2025 playoff hopes already gone, Pant came out against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Ekana Stadium and hit 118 not out off 61 balls — 11 fours, 8 sixes. It was almost a rerun of 2018 in its construction: a young Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the death got the same treatment a teenage Siddarth Kaul had faced years earlier. The innings mattered beyond its entertainment value. Both of Pant’s IPL centuries arrived when external pressure had been stripped away. That’s the thread LSG’s think tank need to pull.
🏆 Rishabh Pant’s IPL Record Cabinet
Most expensive IPL player ever: ₹27 crore (2024 mega auction — IPL auction record). IPL 2018 run charts: Second-highest scorer behind Orange Cap winner Kane Williamson (684 runs). Elite 3,500+ club: One of five batters — alongside Kohli, Rohit, Dhawan, and Warner — to cross that mark. Wicketkeeper landmark: Crossed 100 IPL dismissals as a ‘keeper in 2025, the fastest Indian wicketkeeper to the milestone in the league.
IPL 2026 — Rishabh Pant’s Current Form
The numbers don’t make comfortable reading. Pant has scored 286 runs in 13 matches for LSG in IPL 2026 — and combined with his 269-run 2025 campaign, the LSG chapter has produced 555 runs at a career-low aggregate strike rate of 136.69 across 27 outings. Head coach Justin Langer didn’t spare him after the May 20 loss to Rajasthan Royals: “Numbers don’t lie. He would be the first to admit it’s been two very disappointing seasons with the bat.”
That same week, national selectors removed Pant from India’s ODI squad and stripped him of the Test vice-captaincy — a double blow he took on the chin at the post-match presser. The irony is that Pant historically bats best when consequence is removed. The academy cricketer who scored a triple century in Ranji Trophy isn’t afraid of failure; the ₹27 crore IPL captain may have been. With the season closing and external expectations now recalibrated, check the IPL 2026 Orange Cap tracker for where Pant sits in the run charts heading into the final rounds.
Delhi Capitals Era (2016–2024)
- 111 matches, 3,284 runs for DC
- Peak SR: 173.60 (IPL 2018)
- Best avg: 52.61 (IPL 2018)
- Led DC to 2020 IPL Final — franchise first
LSG Era (2025–2026)
- 27 matches, 555 runs combined
- Combined era SR: 136.69 (7.5pts below career)
- Two centuries for LSG — both scored when season was over
- Yet to guide LSG to a playoff berth
Rishabh Pant is the most naturally gifted wicketkeeper-batter India has produced since MS Dhoni — and I don’t think that statement is remotely controversial at this point. The career numbers back it, the match-winning innings bank-roll it, and anyone who watched him dismantle bowling attacks in 2018 and 2019 knows what the ceiling looks like. But the ₹27 crore price tag changed something in how he bats. His two LSG centuries both came when the season’s fate was already sealed. When nothing is riding on the innings, the real Pant shows up. That’s a genuinely strange position for the most expensive player in IPL history to be in.
The selectors dropping him from India’s ODI squad this week could, paradoxically, be the trigger he needs. Pant’s career has been bookended by adversity — car accident, rehab, comeback — and he’s always responded with his bat. I’d back him to produce at least one defining knock in the closing rounds of 2026, especially if LSG’s playoff spot needs saving. The talent hasn’t gone anywhere. The carefreeness just needs to return.
Rishabh Pant IPL Stats — FAQs
How many runs has Rishabh Pant scored in IPL?
As of May 2026, Pant has scored 3,804 runs in 137 IPL matches at an average of 33.66 and a career strike rate of 144.18. He has 2 centuries and 20 half-centuries, with a highest score of 128* against SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL 2018.
Which IPL teams has Rishabh Pant played for?
Pant played for Delhi Daredevils — later renamed Delhi Capitals — from 2016 to 2024, missing the 2023 season due to injury from a car accident. He joined Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the 2025 season and has captained the side in both IPL 2025 and IPL 2026.
Has Rishabh Pant won the Orange Cap?
No. Pant has never won the Orange Cap. His closest finish was in IPL 2018, when he scored 684 runs — the second-highest total that season — but Kane Williamson finished ahead of him. As of IPL 2026, Pant hasn’t challenged the Orange Cap race in recent seasons. Track the live standings on the IPL 2026 Orange Cap page.
What is Rishabh Pant’s highest score in IPL?
Pant’s highest IPL score is 128* against SunRisers Hyderabad in 2018 — off 69 balls with 14 sixes and 7 fours. His second-highest is 118* against Royal Challengers Bengaluru for LSG in IPL 2025, off 61 balls. Both centuries came in matches where LSG or DC were already under pressure.
How much was Rishabh Pant bought for in the IPL auction?
Lucknow Super Giants signed Pant for ₹27 crore at the 2024 mega auction ahead of IPL 2025 — making him the most expensive player in IPL auction history. LSG retained him at the same price ahead of IPL 2026. His base price had been set at ₹2 crore before a bidding war drove the final figure to its record level.
Bottom Line
Rishabh Pant’s IPL career is a study in peaks and pressure. The career numbers — 3,804 runs, strike rate 144.18, two of the format’s most destructive centuries — confirm a talent that belongs in any IPL all-time XI conversation. The recent chapters confirm a batter who performs best when consequence is stripped away, and who’s still working out how to carry a ₹27 crore price tag without letting it narrow his instincts. Keep tabs on his form through the IPL 2026 closing rounds via the IPL 2026 Orange Cap tracker and the IPL 2026 points table for LSG’s playoff picture.
