Rishabh Pant has stepped down as captain of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise announced on Friday. This brings to an end a rather forgettable tenure as LSG skipper for Pant, with the wicketkeeper-batsman captaining the side in 28 matches and winning just 10.
“Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) wish to formally announce that Rishabh Pant has requested to be relieved of his captaincy duties with the franchise, and the franchisee has accepted his request with immediate effect,” said LSG in its statement.
LSG director of cricket Tom Moody further said in the press release that Pant “approached the franchise with the request”.
“These decisions are never easy. We are grateful for everything Rishabh has brought to this dressing room as captain. Our focus now is on the collective – rebuilding and restructuring to reach the best standards”
Official announcement. pic.twitter.com/7WeOwpkDr6
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) May 29, 2026
Pant had joined the side in the mega auction ahead of the 2025 season for a record fee of Rs 27.50 crore after spending eight seasons with the Delhi Capitals. He was made captain immediately, replacing KL Rahul, who went the other way to DC.
LSG, however, ended up winning just six out of their 14 matches in the 2025 season, thus missing out on the playoffs. Their recently concluded 2026 campaign was even worse. With just four wins, LSG finished bottom of the table, tied on eight points with the Mumbai Indians and trailing them on the net run rate.
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Individually, Pant has suffered two of his least productive seasons in his IPL career with LSG. He managed to score just 269 runs in the 2025 season, his worst return since his debut year in 2016, at a strike rate of 133.16 and average of 24.45 in 13 innings. It has to be noted that 118 of these runs came in a single innings as he scored a century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last match of the season. Apart from this, he had managed to go past fifty just once.
Things didn’t get better for him with the bat this year as he scored 312 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 138.05 and average of 28.36 with one half-century.
There has also been increased speculation on Pant’s relationship with the team management this season. Early in the year, a video went viral of team owner Sanjiv Goenka seemingly having a stern conversation with Pant and head coach Justin Langer. While the incident was laughed off by Goenka, Pant later in the season alluded to “too many minds” being involved in the decision-making process in the team. He even dropped an expletive in a post-match interview after a loss to the Rajasthan Royals on May 19, by which point LSG looked set for a bottom-of-the-table finish to the season.
