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Former England captain Michael Vaughan has suggested that Lucknow Super Giants should not keep Rishabh Pant as their captain.
Pant has been criticized for making tactically poor decisions as captain and has now led LSG to the group stage in two consecutive seasons. In fact, LSG was the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race in IPL 2026.
LSG’s poor form in IPL 2026
At present, LSG is at the last position in the points table with just 4 wins from 13 matches. On Tuesday, LSG lost to Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, their ninth defeat of the season.
LSG started the season almost well, with two wins in their first three games, but everything soon unraveled. 6 consecutive defeats have essentially confirmed that Rishabh Pant’s team will be the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race.
However, after that series of six, LSG once again found their footing, winning two out of three matches until Vaibhav Suryavanshi thrashed them. Now, they have only one match left in this tournament and basically all they are looking forward to is the next season.
Someone else can be the captain – Michael Vaughan
Speaking on Cricbiz, Michael Vaughan said that while LSG have found themselves a good core to take into the next season, they will have to sack Rishabh Pant as captain, if not release him altogether.
“I think there are some things he has to decide on. Obviously, Justin Langer [LSG Head Coach] Will be under a huge amount of pressure. i see tom moody [LSG Director of Cricket] In setup; In a way, he is the overall boss of the Lucknow team. Look at the captain, from the owner to the coach and the captain, the leadership does not seem right. It doesn’t look put together at all,” he said.
“It’s something they’ve got to fix. Look, they’ve got a combination at the top of the order [Josh] Inglis and Mitchell Marsh. You would think it was worth continuing, [Nicholas] Puran at number 3. Do you want all your top 3 players to be foreign players? Probably not, so one of them might have to be out for next year.”
“I think they need to find a captain. And that could be Aiden Markram. But then, you’ve got another foreign player in the top five. Most of the teams that have won the IPL in the history of the tournament have had more Indians in the top five, so it would be against the trend.”
Look, a year away from now, a lot of things can happen, but clearly, I think the bowling also needs some changes. I don’t think it is as good as some of the other teams because they are at the bottom of the table. It is a combination of everything: fielding, batting and bowling. And clearly, in two months of the IPL, they have not been able to perform well at all.”
Rishabh Pant in IPL 2026
Like his team, Rishabh Pant has also not been able to perform well in IPL 2026. He has only 286 runs in 13 matches at an average of 28.60. He has been able to score only one half-century in the tournament. Rishabh Pant’s strike rate has also not been really good and is around 140.
Apart from poor form, Pant has also taken questionable decisions as captain at times, including batting order. LSG will play its last match of IPL 2026 against Punjab Kings on May 23 in Lucknow.
Also read: Rishabh Pant’s F-bomb proves hidden frustrations at Sanjiv Goenka-owned LSG? Decoding explosive comments