Lucknow Super Giants To Remove Rishabh Pant As Captain After Humiliating IPL 2026? LSG Outline Big Changes

Following the team's disappointing end to a poor Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign, the team's Director of Cricket, Tom Moody, hinted at a possible change in captaincy, saying that the team is left "needing to consider a reset".

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had a disastrous IPL 2026 campaign, which ended with just four wins and 10 losses, putting them in the bottom two spots in the points table. At home, out of seven matches, LSG lost five and won just two. In the 2025 season, Pant's debut season with the franchise that came with pressures of a hefty prize tag of Rs 27 crores and captaincy, LSG could win just six and lost eight, finishing in seventh place in the table.
 

Pant's bat has not produced the fireworks as it used to, having scored 581 runs in 28 matches and 26 innings at an average of 26.40 and a strike rate of 135.74, with just one century and two fifties. For Pant, this season was slightly better than a 269 run outing in 2025, which was salvaged by a fiery 118* vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). In the 2026 edition, he made 312 runs in 13 innings at an average of 28.36 and a strike rate of over 138.05, with just one fifty and a best score of 68*.
 

Speaking during the post-match presser, Moody admitted that Pant has found things "challenging" in terms of captaincy.

"From a captaincy point of view, you know, he's found it challenging, obviously, and the results reflect that. And you do have to wonder whether that is a pressure that is reflected in his performance with the bat. I know that this season has been a difficult season for us, but we will reflect on it, we'll take time, we'll reflect on it. We will consider all things," he said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

He also admitted that the team has not "lived upto the expectation they expect of themselves" and "very serious consideration" will be taken with regards to the leadership of the franchise.

"But certainly we have not lived up to the expectation or the standard that we expect of ourselves. And certainly when it comes to the leadership of the franchise, it is certainly something that we will be taking some very serious consideration to, you know, what it looks like in the future. Like every department, when you reflect on a season, we will be making some considered decisions, but it certainly looks like we need to consider a reset," he added.

Moody also said that the entire team is responsible for a poor season, and there should be no fingers pointed at one individual.

"I think we all take accountability, and now's not the time to be apportioning blame in any particular department. We all need time to reflect on it in a calm manner, but there are certain things that we do need to address, and that will be addressed," he added.

Coming to the match, PBKS opted to bowl first and fiery knocks from Josh Inglis (72 in 44 balls, with nine fours and two sixes), Ayush Badoni (43 in 18 balls, with five fours and three sixes), and Abdul Samad (37* in 20 balls, with three fours and three sixes) powered them to 196/6 in 20 overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25) and Marco Jansen (2/33) were the pick of the bowlers for PBKS.

In the run-chase, Iyer (101* in 51 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes) and Prabhsimran Singh (69 in 39 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) served as the stars, taking them to a much-needed win to end their six-match losing streak, with seven wickets and two overs left.

PBKS are back on the fourth spot in the points table with seven wins and six losses, with 15 points. If Rajasthan Royals (RR) wins against Mumbai Indians (MI) today, PBKS will be knocked out, with RR getting 16 points and the fourth playoff spot. If RR loses, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will have to defeat Delhi Capitals (DC) by a massive margin in the second match of the day to outdo PBKS in terms of net-run-rate and level with them with 15 points to earn the fourth playoff spot.