table of contents
Rishabh Pant’s association with Lucknow Supergiants has been one of the most volatile topics of discussion in IPL history. Pant has been unable to maintain that belief ever since LSG paid him ₹27 crore.
Set in 2022, Lucknow Super Giants looked like they had built a team that could give the Original 8 franchises a run for their money. Consistent performer KL Rahul was chosen to lead the team and he took the team to fourth place in the first season.
In 2023 also, LSG finished fourth after losing the eliminator. That season, KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya divided the leadership duties, as KL Rahul was injured midway through the season.
However, in 2024, everything they built comes undone a bit. LSG missed out on a playoff spot in 2024 due to their poor net run rate. Owner Sanjiv Goenka publicly criticized captain KL Rahul after his poor performance with the bat in a match. And just like that, LSG was looking for a new captain in 2025.
Include Rishabh Pant. In the mega auction in 2025, LSG had increased their bid to ₹20 crore before Pant’s previous franchise, Delhi Capitals, stepped in with a right to match card. The new RTM rules meant that LSGs were allowed to submit a final bid which DC had to match in order to use the card.
Lucknow quoted ₹27 crore and Delhi Capitals was out. Later, the LSG think-tank said that ₹27 crore was the price for Rishabh Pant, especially since Shreyas Iyer had moved to Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore after a bidding war from DC.
Fast forward to 2026, and Rishabh Pant’s association with LSG has been unproductive at best and combustible at worst. Pant has been unable to deliver results either with the bat or as a captain.
This article will explore the top five reasons why Lucknow Super Giants should move on from them before IPL 2027 arrives.
Top five reasons why LSG should release Rishabh Pant before IPL 2027
1. Purse of ₹27 crores exhausted
Rs 27 crore is not a small amount; In fact, this salary makes Rishabh Pant the most expensive player in IPL history. No player really asks for a pay check to be thrown at them, but the truth is that there are very few players who would justify a pay check that high.
In both the seasons, Pant has performed well neither with the bat nor with his leadership. In 2025, he scored 269 runs in 14 matches at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 133. And this also included an inning of 118* runs against RCB in the last match.
In 2026, he scored 251 runs in 11 matches at a slightly better average of 27.89 and a strike rate of 138.67 with just 1 half-century. His leadership decisions have also been criticized.
In IPL 2025, Pant led his team to 7th position with just 6 wins in 14 matches. In 2026, his team has managed just 3 wins in 11 matches and could arguably finish at the bottom. All this has put a lot of pressure on both him and his team.
2. Poor leadership
Rishabh Pant has a track record of taking poor decisions as captain. Most infamously, he chose Tom Curran instead of Kagiso Rabada to bowl the final over in the IPL 2021 playoff match.
This year he was mainly criticized for his decision to bowl Aiden Markram over Shahbaz Ahmed in the last over against CSK. Overall, he has been unable to remain composed, especially during his team’s six-match losing streak.
Suspicious changes in both the batting and bowling line-up ultimately left LSG in complete disarray.
3. Pant- Losing T20 batsman?
Since making his IPL debut in 2016, Rishabh Pant has been seen as the future of T20 cricket due to his bold strokes. But this has not always been successful.
Pant was always known for his aggressive and innovative methods, but as soon as he took over the leadership, those methods became entangled in themselves. Over the years, Pant has not found the right balance of aggression and consistency, and that means his aggression has also declined.
This is clearly reflected in his T20 international career. Despite playing 76 matches, Pant’s career strike rate in this format has been a modest 127. Rishabh Pant of 2018, who scored 600 runs at a strike rate of 173 in IPL, has been gone for a long time. As Pant scored a century in 32 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the same year.
Even during 2022 and 2024, Pant remained in touch with his game in the IPL, striking more than 150 in both those years, but in 2025, the pressure got the better of him.
4. Confusion about their role
Rishabh Pant is clearly confused about not only his own role but also that of his teammates. In the first match of this year, he started the innings and it was not good at all.
He then moved up to No. 3 – the same position where he scored a century against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2025 – but that didn’t help his fortunes. Pant’s inability to clarify his role has affected the rest of the team’s players as well.
Both Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran were forced to play in the middle order to accommodate Pant at No. 3, and neither of those batsmen could perform well in those positions.
This weakened LSG’s middle order considerably; In some matches, he decided to open with middle-order batsman Ayush Badoni, but it was of no use.
5. Options exist within the team
At present the big question is that if not Rishabh Pant then who? Pant was brought in specifically to be the captain, and if he is released, LSG may struggle for options.
It is not necessary that it be so. LSG have two major options within their team without the need to look outside. Mitchell Marsh (Aus) and Aiden Markram (SA) are both the full-time T20I captains of their country. Rishabh Pant has not played any T20 match since 2024.
Under Marsh’s captaincy, Australia had to exit the group stage in two T20 World Cups, but his captaincy record has been good. Marsh has also been LSG’s most consistent batsman in the last two seasons.
Aiden Markram has led South Africa to runner-up and semi-final finishes in the T20 World Cup in 2024 and 2026 respectively. Markram led his SA20 franchise – Sunrisers Eastern Cape – to two consecutive titles (2023 and 2024).
In both tournaments, South Africa were undefeated before suffering knockout defeats. Nicholas Pooran is also an outside option. Pooran has been lacking form with the bat in IPL 2026, but he is still one of the best batsmen in the world in this format.
In the last two and a half years, Pooran has won three T20 leagues (ILT20 in 2024, MLC and CPL in 2025) as a captain, even though he has retired from international cricket. All these factors are forcing Lucknow Supergiants to part ways with Rishabh Pant.
ALSO READ: Massive changes in LSG: Full list of players to be released after 2026 disaster