Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Wednesday (August 28) named former India pacer Zaheer Khan as their team mentor for the 2025 season.

Following the appointment, Zaheer expressed excitement about his new role, stating that it's the start of something "very, very special."

The position of LSG team mentor was left vacant by former opener Gautam Gambhir, who went to join Kolkata (KKR) earlier this year before becoming India’s new head coach.

Under Gambhir’s mentorship, the Super Giants managed reach the playoffs in their first two seasons. However, they endured a dismal IPL 2024 campaign after Gambhir’s exit, finishing at the seventh place in the 10-team points table.

"LSG are a relatively young franchise in IPL, but it has not been looked upon like that, the building blocks are pretty much in place," Zaheer told reporters at the RPSG Group Headquarters in Kolkata.

"They have made a lot of progress. The consistency with reaching playoffs, which is so tough in this fiercely-contested competition, is something that gives me a lot of confidence when I'm looking at coming and contributing to the franchise's success.

"We have similar stances on many things when it comes to cricket, where LSG should go in future, what kind of cricketing values, the brand of cricket the team should look to play."

The appointment marks Zaheer’s return to the IPL fold after two years. He was previously associated with Mumbai Indians (MI) from 2018-2022.

Expectations are high from the 2011 World Cup winner, who is committed to take LSG’s performance to the next level.

"The process is something that will be required and which will be my responsibility. I will make sure that the process, that is required for each individual to express themselves fully to bring a lot of victories to the franchise, is in place.

"I will be closely looking at the decision-making for LSG to go to the next level. Hopefully this season is going to be the special one and the beginning of something very, very special for this franchise," he stated.

During his tenure with MI, Zaheer first served as the director of cricket and then took the role of head of global development.

Lucknow Super Giants do not have a bowling coach following the departure of Proteas legend Morne Morkel, who has joined the Gambhir-led Indian coaching staff.

"Do you need a bowling coach when I'm here? I will do everything that the team needs," Khan said.

LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka lauded Zaheer Khan's attitude and his unwavering determination to succeed.

"His ability to keep winning, keep having this strong hunger for success is something that attracted me towards getting him as part of the LSG franchise," Goenka said.

"A couple of weeks ago, I realised that he was not with not any cricketing franchise, so I called him up, we spoke, we agreed and he is here.

"So, it's as short and as quick as it gets. We are very excited to have him on board. We do believe he will do wonders for future of LSG," he added.

(With PTI Inputs)