The LSG franchise splurged INR 27 crores on Rishabh Pant in IPL 2025 mega auction.
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise is set to announce their captain for the IPL 2025 season shortly. As per LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka, Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, and Mitchell Marsh are in contention for the captaincy job.
KL Rahul was the main captain of LSG from 2022-2024, while Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran captained the side in the interim when Rahul was injured. Meanwhile, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka remained tight-lipped about who will be the new captain of the franchise.
"People get surprised easily. I don't think you get surprised easily. It's been decided. But we will announce it in the next few days. We have four leaders on our team - Rishabh, Pooran, Markram, and Mitch Marsh.
So, it becomes a very strong leadership pool of intellect, thought and strategy. They are all people who can go for the mindset to win. Rishabh has that hunger, and passion that he wants to win, and do something and show it. So, the team is good and we are happy," said Goenka on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel.
LSG splurged INR 27 Crores for Rishabh Pant in the IPL 2025 mega auction, making him the most expensive player in IPL history. Pant had captained Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021-2024, and it was hoped that LSG would name the keeper-batter as their new captain.
However, there has been no official announcement by the LSG franchise as of yet and Sanjiv Goenka stated that the final decision will be made after consulting the team management.
"Our internal feeling is that our auction was very good. Our focus was that our middle order and finishing should be very strong. So, that numbers three to eight are very strong. Another thing we wanted was to go with an Indian-pace attack, instead of an international pace, and we went with explosive international batters. So, now we have got a combination of the two," added Goenka.
Talking about the batting order, Goenka stated that coach Justin Langer and mentor Zaheer Khan will plan LSG’s batting.
"We decided that we had to make our middle order strong and have an Indian core. However, auctions don't go exactly the way you plan it. We made a very big go for Jos Buttler but we fell one or two bid amounts short. Zak (Zaheer Khan), JL (Justin Langer), and the captain will decide it.
Those are calls that frankly are beyond my capability and competence. Zak has a thought process and I think he has already spoken to the captain a couple of times, and I think Zak, Langer, and the captain will be meeting soon together, and all three of them will have a conversation and they will take a call. Whatever their call is, I will support it 100 percent,” Goenka added.
LSG made it into the IPL playoffs in 2022 and 2023 but failed to come good in IPL 2024 season leading to KL Rahul’s departure from the franchise.