Rishabh Pant's poor record as a captain suggests LSG might have a hard time winning the IPL
India's elite wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant will be seen donning the jersey of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the first time in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the franchise successfully secured his acquisition in the Mega-Auction for a humongous price tag of 27 crore Indian Rupees, which also made him the most expensive player in the history of the tournament.
The franchise also confirmed his appointment as the captain on 20th of January, with Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the Lucknow based team also present during the announcement.
Can Rishabh Pant help LSG lift the IPL Trophy for the first time?
Since their debut in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have managed to reach the playoffs two times in 2022 and 2023, but they failed to do so in the previous season (IPL 2024). After parting ways with their former skipper KL Rahul, Lucknow have placed their trust in Rishabh, in the hopes that his skills as a captain can help them in lifting the IPL Trophy for the first time.
Ahead of the upcoming season of the cash-rich T20 league, let's take a look at the captaincy record of the most expensive player in the history of the IPL, Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant's captaincy statistics in the IPL
The 27-year-old Rishabh Pant made his captaincy debut in 2021 where the Delhi Capitals handed over the leadership duties to him following an injury suffered by Shreyas Iyer which made him miss the first and the middle half of the tournament that year. He was asked to lead a team which had ended the previous edition as the runner's up and this was a huge gamble for the franchise.
But, Pant proved his doubters wrong as he helped the Delhi based team top the table in 2021. This was a huge achievement for a player who was making his captaincy debut but, he wasn't able to help them qualify for the final, losing to CSK in the first qualifier and KKR in the eliminator.
But, the 27-year-old showed a lot of promise as a captain and Delhi decided to continue with him in IPL 2022 as well. However, the 2022 season proved to be an under par one for the franchise, as they missed out on playoffs qualification, finishing 5th in the overall standings.
Pant missed the next season after suffering serious injuries in a life-threatning car accident and David Warner led the team in 2023 in his place. Rishabh then made his highly awaited comeback and return in the next season, but as a captain, he wasn't able to do much.
In 43 matches, his record as a skipper has been decent, with Delhi winning in 23 contests under his leadership and one contest ended in a tie. These stats give him a 54% winning percentage
Under Pant, the Delhi based team have qualified for the playoffs just once, which suggests that his captaincy has been under par. It remains to be seen whether he can turn around the fortunes of the Lucknow Super Giants or not.