22 matches, 8 wins… LSG’s graph dropped under Pant’s captaincy, becoming a burden for the franchise.

The pressure of captaincy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) affects the performance of every player but this responsibility seems to be heavy for Rishabh Pant at the moment. Pant has taken charge of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) from IPL 2025 till now but there has been a continuous decline in the team’s performance. The figures clearly indicate that under Pant’s captaincy, LSG has not been able to live up to the expectations.

LSG’s entry in IPL was in the year 2022 and since then the team has played a total of 66 matches. In these 66 matches, the team has won 32 matches, lost 32 and one match has also been tied. The team’s performance in the first two seasons i.e. 2022 and 2023 was quite good. LSG had reached the playoffs both the times, which made it seem that the team will show strong play in future too. However, since then the condition of the team has not been very good in the points table. Before Rishabh Pant became the captain, the command of the team was in the hands of KL Rahul. The special thing is that both the times when LSG reached the playoffs, Rahul was captaining the team.

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LSG’s graph dropped under Pant’s captaincy

In the mega auction of IPL 2025, LSG bought Rishabh Pant for a total of Rs 27 crore. Pant also remains the most expensive player and captain till date. According to his brand value, till now he has not been able to do anything special for Lucknow. As soon as LSG included him in the team, he also handed over the captaincy.

From IPL 2025 till now, Lucknow has played a total of 22 matches under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant. Out of these, the team was able to win only 8 matches, while it had to face defeat in 13 matches. One match was also tied. If we talk about statistics, during this period the team’s winning percentage was only 36.36, while the losing percentage reached 59.09. Despite having such big players, these figures are going to increase tension for any franchise.

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The condition of LSG is very bad this time in IPL 2026. The team has played 8 matches so far but has won only 2 of them. Currently, the team has only 4 points in its account and the net run rate is -1.106, due to which the team is stuck at the bottom of the points table, i.e. at 10th position. In such a situation, this season also the team is in danger of reaching the playoffs and the sword of being out seems to be hanging.

Severe shortage of tactical blueprints

Under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant on the field, it is clearly visible that there is no concrete ‘tactical plan’. Many times he did not use the bowlers properly on important occasions and the constant changes in the batting order also took a toll on the team. Pant’s overly aggressive attitude under pressure seemed to be putting the team in trouble instead of turning it into strategy. Decisions like not being able to finish close matches and using defensive fielding even in the powerplay are raising questions on his captaincy. Overall, under his leadership the team has often been seen playing without a clear plan.

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Pant’s performance as a batsman for LSG

Rishabh Pant has played 22 matches for LSG so far, in which he has scored a total of 458 runs. If we talk about the season, Pant’s performance in IPL 2025 was decent. He scored 269 runs at an average of 24.45, which included one century and one half-century. So far in IPL 2026, he has scored 189 runs in 8 matches at an average of 27 and during this period he has also seen a half-century with his bat.