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Rishabh Pant has been asked to give up his role as the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants team after consecutive disastrous seasons for the Super Giants in IPL 2026. The former South African wicket-keeper has hence delivered a blunt verdict for the Indian star.
Rishabh Pant has featured in 14 matches this season and has gone on to amass 312 runs while striking at 138. Though this seems an improvement from the last season, Rishabh Pant is still not back at his very best, as he has often missed out with the bat.
When Sanjeev Goenka bought him for a whopping INR 27 crores, it was not due to his leadership skills alone, but he also had to continue to contribute with the bat, much like Shreyas Iyer does for the Punjab Kings.
"Get rid of captaincy.": Mark Boucher's blunt verdict to LSG skipper Rishabh Pant
Former South African wicketkeeper and ex-MI coach Mark Boucher suggested that Rishabh should stop captaining the LSG team if he needs that to return to his best form as a batter. Boucher made this statement during a recent discussion on ESPNcricinfo Timeout.
"Rishabh Pant, the cricketer and his leadership are not working together. We have seen that for a couple of seasons now. He hasn't produced what he is expected to produce. Not everyone is like Rishabh Pant," said the former South African.
"There are certain players who need to prepare properly. You need to be able to sit down with your captain and explain your line of thinking. He needs to understand that as well.
"We all want to see Pant hitting the ball all over the ground. If the captaincy is getting in the way, then get rid of the captaincy," he added.
"He has a certain way of captaining": Ex-CSK star backs Pant's captaincy despite poor form.
Former CSK batter Ambati Rayudu has had similar views about Pant. However, he said that Pant should either be allowed to make his own calls in an instinctive manner or else he should be removed from captaincy.
"For someone who always relies on instinct, it is so hard for him to prepare everything and be methodical in terms of his decisions. Either you give him captaincy and let him be the way he is, or you don't give him captaincy," said Ambati Rayudu.
"He cannot change his personality overnight. He has a certain way of captaining. If that is not working, the best thing he can do is be a player and enjoy his cricket and perform for the team," he added.
Rishabh Pant's awful record as LSG skipper
Rishabh Pant was brought in as the Lucknow Super Giants' skipper in IPL 2025 after he was bought as the costliest player in an IPL auction. Having led LSG in 28 matches across the last two seasons, he won 10 games in his tenure as the captain of the side.
He has a win percentage of over 35.71 as the skipper of the LSG side. This season as well, they finished further lower than the previous season, as the Super Giants finished in the last position on the points table with just eight points in the season.
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