table of contents
Will Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) finally release Rishabh Pant? This is the question on the minds of fans and experts after the Sanjiv Goenka-owned team ended a disappointing campaign in IPL 2026.
After two seasons, twenty-eight matches, the Rs 27 crore player has led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to just ten wins, and the numbers are quite worrying.
performance vs pay value
When LSG paid a record ₹27 crore for Rishabh Pant ahead of IPL 2025, the logic was simple: a generational wicketkeeper-batsman, a proven match-winner, someone who can drag the franchise to a title win. But they got seventh position in IPL 2025 and tenth position in IPL 2026.
In IPL 2025, Rishabh Pant’s statistics were terrible as he scored 269 runs in 14 innings, of which 118 runs came in an inconsequential match. IPL 2026 started off with the same ugly pattern as they scored just 312 runs in 14 innings.
In comparison, Mitchell Marsh, who is priced at Rs 3.40 crore, has scored 563 runs at a strike rate of 163.19 this season. LSG’s batting has been the main problem, and Rishabh Pant’s contributions have consistently fallen short of what the franchise needs from its most expensive player.
impact of captaincy
Rishabh Pant’s captaincy has been constantly scrutinized and, based on the evidence, deservedly so. Pant himself admitted to confusion in the moment.
This season, Pant publicly acknowledged “a lot of minds” in the leadership group, an indication that the setup featuring Justin Langer, Tom Moody, Kane Williamson and Bharat Arun left him without the necessary authority to captain independently. This may be a valid issue. But this is also the environment that LSG created around him, and he never found a way to escape it.
Speaking after the final league game Tom Moody did not mince his words and said that LSG needed to “consider rebuilding” in leadership.
team balance issues
The structural problem at LSG is not one player’s problem; This is a team built on batting firepower with chronic bowling weaknesses. Injuries badly hurt Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav in both seasons. Mohammed Shami and Prince Yadav have done a good job, but the bowling attack has hardly felt organized.
Rishabh Pant’s batting position has added to the chaos. He came to different places in two seasons. A captain changing his batting position often signals neither role clarity nor confidence from the dressing room.
Possible replacement as captain
Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh are two obvious names who are both captains of their T20I teams, South Africa and Australia, and are capable options if LSG restructures the overseas balance.
Actually the decision is not about who will replace Pant. This is about whether LSG can continue paying Rs 27 crore for a player who is no longer in India’s ODI and T20I setup, who has been dropped from the Test leadership group, and who has produced two of the most expensive poor performances in IPL history.
Why can LSG still keep him?
The argument for retaining Pant is not completely baseless. He’s 28, in his physical prime, and still has flashes of talent. Justin Langer noted that Pant’s character impressed him in difficult times, and a coach doesn’t say that about a player he wants gone.
There’s also the question of what releasing him actually solves. LSG’s overall team composition structural failure. Releasing Pant frees up space of Rs 27 crore in the purse, but it does not automatically improve the team combination.
Brand and commercial value
Rishabh Pant is one of India’s most marketable cricketers. Their name sells tickets, carries merchandise, and attracts media attention regardless of form.
Sanjiv Goenka understands this, because that’s partly why LSG reached Rs 27 crore in the first place. Releasing him provides commercial attraction to rival franchises.
Should LSG release Rishabh Pant? honest decision
Not because he is a bad cricketer, he is not and anyone who has seen him at his best with Delhi Capitals knows what he can do. But because two seasons of evidence has shown that the combination of captaincy pressure, a crowded leadership group and the weight of a record price tag has produced a version of Pant that is nowhere near what LSG needs.
The franchise has publicly supported him and built an entire team around his presence. None of this worked. Tom Moody calling for a leadership reset at the end of the season is no subtle hint. This is the writing on the wall.
Releasing Pant, restructuring the team combination and handing the captaincy to Markram or Marsh gives LSG the best chance of a different result in IPL 2027. Keeping them gives them a third season of the same story. The honest decision is clear. They need someone at LSG to say it out loud.
Also read: Rishabh Pant’s captaincy in danger as LSG plans reset after IPL 2026
