It’s now official. The most expensive buy in the history of the Indian Premier League will no longer represent the franchise that shelled out a gargantuan ₹27 crore at the mega auction in Jeddah in November 2024.
Rishabh Pant had moved from Delhi Capitals to Lucknow Super Giants with much fanfare, though among Pant fans and neutrals, there was a sense of apprehension, if not trepidation. Team owner Sanjiv Goenka’s on-field takedown of then captain KL Rahul during IPL 2024 became a seminal, if avoidable, part of IPL history. What was the guarantee, the sceptics questioned, that Pant wouldn’t be subject to the same treatment.
First dates are always full of bonhomie and a gung-ho mentality, and Goenka and Pant seemed to immediately hit it off when the latter was installed as the skipper. The team owner went to the extent of predicting that Pant would emulate the deeds of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who steered Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively to five titles apiece.
“According to me, he (Pant) will play for the next 12-15 years. People say that MI and CSK are more successful. Mahi and Rohit are undeniably brilliant. Mark my words, after 10 years, people will say, Mahi, Rohit and Rishabh,” Goenka told the host broadcaster. “In my belief, time will prove that he is not only the most successful player of the IPL, but he is going to be the best player of the IPL. I haven’t seen players with that kind of passion and hunger to win.”
Strong words of encouragement and support, though Season 1 in charge of the new team didn’t go well for the wicketkeeper-batter, either in front of the stumps or as a leader. While LSG finished a modest seventh with six victories from 14 outings, the captain had a terrible run with the bat which not even an end-of-season unbeaten 118 could salvage. The left-hander finished with a mere 269 runs at a strike-rate of 133.17.
It happens, everyone said. There is a bedding-in period with every new team, getting to know the culture of the side, the coaching staff, the players, in a dynamic tournament like the IPL. But if IPL 2025 was one to forget, the following season was truly disastrous. Pant went from opening the batting in the opening game to middle-order roles, but batting success continued to prove elusive. What’s worse, his big overseas batting guns – Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram – also went missing in the initial phase. By the time Marsh, the Australian T20I skipper, rediscovered his chops (he finished with 563 runs, ninth in the Orange Cap race), LSG were comprehensively out of the running. Between them, Markram and Pooran mustered only 465 runs in 25 innings, Pant had 312 in 13 and LSG were soundly hammered by all and sundry, mustering a miserable four wins and pushed to the wooden spoon by MI on run rate.
Pant’s struggles couldn’t remain hidden
Pant seemed ill at ease at his new franchise, clearly impacted by individual and collective failure. The free spirit with a quip for every occasion was conspicuously absent; instead, he was uncharacteristically tetchy and twitchy, snapping at his colleagues, helpless when his vaunted pace attack crumbled and obviously frustrated that his own bat wasn’t doing his bidding. The decision (in which Pant, as captain, surely must have had a role) to send a horribly out-of-sorts Pooran to face Sunil Narine – who has a great record against his fellow West Indian – in the Super Over against Kolkata Knight Riders was the most glaring example of addled thought processes, and the overall disconnect between the skipper and the franchise had become so pronounced that it came as no surprise when Pant stepped down as captain when the playoffs were still underway.
Even at that stage, whispers gathered pace that a move was on the cards, that Pant would be traded out with more than one contender in the fray. As it turns out, the 28-year-old is returning to the franchise he represented in a record 111 games for nine seasons, between 2016 and 2024 (either side of his December 2022 road accident), before being snapped up by LSG. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, himself enduring a trying time at Capitals, has been traded out in his stead to the Lucknow outfit in potentially the highest-profile IPL trade.
That Pant has taken a ₹12-crore pay cut is a significant development that can’t be overlooked. He must certainly have felt welcomed at some early stage in LSG but might have also got the sense from various quarters as IPL 2026 unravelled spectacularly that he was overstaying his welcome. Delhi will welcome the Prodigal Son back with open arms; only time will tell, however, if this is a happy homecoming.