When Rishabh Pant was bought by Lucknow Super Giants ahead of IPL 2025 for ₹27 crores, he became the most expensive buy in the history of the Indian Premier League. In the past, there haven’t been many players who have been able to perform after such a massive price tag. The left-handed batter could not be the outlier, as his returns with the bat in hand were pretty disappointing in the previous season.
Ahead of IPL 2026, Sanjiv Goenka, LSG’s owner, addressed speculations regarding the franchise letting go of Pant after failure in the previous season. Goenka addressed the speculations and said he just ‘laughs’ at reports on social media platforms of Pant being released.
Rishabh Pant’s under-par IPL 2025
Leading the Lucknow Super Giants, Rishabh Pant did not have the best of a time in the previous season. LSG finished seventh on the points table with only six wins in 14 games. With the bat in hand, Pant finished with only 269 runs, his lowest in a season since his debut year, 2016. His tally of 269 runs included a century and a half-century, which showed how poor he was in the rest of the matches.
While talking to SportsTak, Goenka addressed Pant’s poor season. The LSG owner said, “If a captain is deprived of his four key bowlers, what is he expected to do? We must, therefore, assess the resources he actually had at his disposal. I have complete faith in him.”
Rishabh Pant leaving LSG?
Vikrant Gupta: Do you think last year Rishabh Pant had that pressure , we media made the tag “the most expensive player ever “.
In television at times we could see it in his face in his actions, in his decisions, in his batting.
I could see the reflection. Do you think ?Sanjiv… pic.twitter.com/Ie4owDWA0X
— Rupesh Kumar (@drona_17) March 22, 2026
Since his disappointing performance in the previous season, rumours started doing the rounds that the left-handed batter would be kicked out of the Super Giants franchise. Given his price tag of ₹27 crores, it was reported that LSG would look to offload the Indian wicketkeeper before the IPL 2026.
Goenka, while addressing the speculations of Pant leaving LSG, talked about how social media platforms were chasing views with such speculations. “Sometimes, when people speculate about whether Rishabh will be retained or not, I simply look at it and laugh. Perhaps certain social media platforms are merely chasing views; Sanjiv Goenka makes for a convenient punching bag,” the owner said.
Goenka went on to praise Pant for his incredible dedication to the franchise. He said, “He is excellent. He is straightforward and direct in his communication. He strives to give 100 per cent to the franchise. Therefore, when a player, regardless of whether he is the captain or not, gives his absolute 100 per cent, you cannot reasonably expect anything more from him.”
Lucknow Super Giants Squad IPL 2026
Rishabh Pant (C), Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke, Ayush Badoni, Mohammed Shami, Arjun Tendulkar, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh, Josh Inglis, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Anrich Nortje, Naman Tiwari
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