Delhi: Ultimately, only one team will become the champion in IPL 2026 and in comparison, there will be no trophy for this season in the trophy cabinet of 9 teams. For some teams in particular, this failing record will be a season they will never want to remember. On the top of this list will be the name of Lucknow Super Giants for whom India’s star cricketer Rishabh Pant plays. The same Rishabh Pant who was once considered India’s biggest hope in T20. The proof of this is that Lucknow Super Giants specifically chose Rishabh Pant to change the direction of their IPL graph and spent a huge amount of Rs 27 crore on him for one season.
Also read: LSG vs RCB, IPL 2026, Match 50, Live Updates: Bengaluru won the toss, decided to bowl, see playing-11 of both the teams
In the 49 matches played till May 6 in IPL 2026, the situation is that Lucknow Supergiants are at the bottom of the points table after winning only 2 out of 9 matches, no mathematical equation is including them in the race for the playoffs and in this situation, the record of their ‘star batsman and captain’ Rishabh Pant is 204 runs in 9 innings at an average of 25.50 and 128+ strike rate. This may not seem like a very bad record in calculation, but what benefit did the team get from these 204 runs? How much did these 204 runs keep the team in the contest?
It is not that the blame for the condition of Lucknow Super Giants should be placed on Rishabh Pant alone, but when we talk about the impact on the team’s performance, Rishabh Pant has definitely proved to be a flop show on that front. The team’s patience has broken with him and there is nothing wrong in this statement. Even before the end of this 2026 season, among the top cricketers, the discussion about the release of one cricketer has started, the name of which is Rishabh Pant.
Lucknow Super Giants were in the same condition in the 2025 IPL and at the end of the season, they were number 7 in the points table with 6 wins in 14 matches. Rishabh Pant still failed to inspire the team and the record of the season was 269 runs in 14 matches and out of this, 118* was scored in one innings. Despite this, Lucknow Super Giants did not give up on Rishabh Pant and retained him despite not getting much recovery for Rs 27 crore. 2025 and 2026 (based on matches played so far) are the two worst seasons of Rishabh Pant’s career, after his debut season. This time the team doesn’t even seem to be able to reach 6 wins.
However, this time it seems almost certain that Sanjeev Goenka, the chief promoter of Lucknow Super Giants, will not be able to tolerate Rishabh Pant any more and Rishabh Pant will be released. If all the other teams can make a point of view on the strategy and ‘price’ of taking Rishabh Pant from now on. However, it is certain that Rishabh Pant will no longer be able to equal his record of being the most expensive cricketer of IPL.
The defeat against Mumbai Indians in the May 4 match was the sixth consecutive defeat for Lucknow Super Giants this season and a disappointed Rishabh Pant may have accepted that it is no longer in his power to do anything special for the team. That’s why it was said that the team needs ‘some good luck’. Being released at the end of the season is a distant thought, but when the question of changing the captain is raised in the middle of the season, then it becomes a story of failure of the captain. Rishabh Pant’s record as captain of Lucknow Super Giants is 8 wins in 23 matches and his batting form is also declining. That’s why they are looking for ‘good luck’ more than their talent.
Lucknow Super Giants, who played in the playoffs in the first two seasons since their debut in 2022, needed a new gear in their title hopes. Whatever ‘special scheme and strategy’ was made after this, it did not work and this season, instead of being in the top half, Naubat is at the bottom and losing 6 consecutive matches is one of the worst records in the IPL. With 5 matches left, it remains to be seen how far they will go in achieving the record of most defeats in a season (they are likely to break the record of 11-match defeat of Pune Warriors in 2013 and Delhi Daredevils in 2014) and will they equal the record of Deccan Chargers (2008) and Delhi Capitals (2013) of scoring only 4 points in a season?
When Lucknow Super Giants made Rishabh Pant the most expensive player in the IPL 2025 auction, gave him the captain’s armband, and also gave him the trust they had shown in KL Rahul, they did not expect that one day questions would be raised on the role of the same Rishabh Pant in the team. Replacing KL Rahul has proved to be a difficult task for Pant.
Comments are closed.