Rishabh Pant‘s separation with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) is official. The Rs 27 crore gamble has not worked out. After two largely unsuccessful years, Pant is back in Delhi Capitals (DC) colours, just a few weeks after he was relieved off LSG captaincy at his own request. Pant was in the headlines for the wrong reasons in both IPL 2025 and IPL 2026. In 2025, it was his poor form. In 2026, there were question marks over his captaincy. But some of Pant’s comments during the recent IPL season hinted that trouble was brewing well before the campaign ended.
‘Too many minds’ at LSG
Lucknow Super Giants have a number of leadership characters. Justin Langer is the head coach, but Tom Moody – himself a reputed IPL coach – sits above him as Director of Cricket. On the pitch, Pant captains the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, who have commendably led their national teams in recent years.
Usually, the presence of several leaders in a dressing room is a good thing. But that may not have been the case at LSG.
The boiling point came after LSG’s Super Over defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In that game, Pant’s decision to hand the 20th over to uncapped spinner Digvesh Rathi backfired, as he was hit for four sixes by Rinku Singh. After the game, Pant spoke on receiving too much input from the dugout.
“See, there are always times in cricket where you can change things a little, but sometimes bowlers have to bowl those tough overs. And there will be times when I have to use them in the middle overs because I was looking for a wicket. I just didn’t get one. That was the thought process behind it. And too many minds don’t make it easy on the ground,” Pant had said after the match.
As the season went on and LSG’s form got worse, Pant cut a more and more frustrated figure in the post-match interviews. The climax came when he hurled the ‘F-word’, calling his side a “f***ing good team”.
Disappointment over Pant’s captaincy
Right after LSG’s final game of IPL 2026, team director Moody had admitted that the franchise needed a leadership reset. Before the tournament had even ended, Pant was gone from the helm.
Here’s what Moody had said regarding LSG’s leadership issue before the announcement of Pant stepping down:
“When it comes to the leadership of the franchise, it’s certainly something that we’ll be taking some very serious consideration to, you know, what it looks like in the future.”
And here’s what he had said after it:
“I think I made the statement at the end of our last game that we needed to consider a leadership reset, and I think everyone knew that. It’s going to take a long time for us to debrief, review the whole squad and what we are looking to do.”
Moody’s blunt comments of a leadership reset painted a picture that there wasn’t total satisfaction in Rishabh Pant’s captaincy within the management itself, and possibly massive doubt over his place at Lucknow Super Giants.
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