Release Rishabh Pant as captain, we're losing him as batter: Pundits tell LSG
Rohan Gavaskar and Manoj Tiwary have urged Lucknow Super Giants to remove Rishabh Pant as captain after the defeat to Mumbai Indians. They said the burden of leadership is affecting his batting and LSG should let him play only as a batter.
Former India cricketers Rohan Gavaskar and Manoj Tiwary said that LSG should make the bold call and release Rishabh Pant from his captaincy duties. Both pundits feel that Pant the batter is taking a toll due to being skipper of the team after they lost to MI.
Under Pant's captaincy, Lucknow have won just eight out of 23 matches and find themselves rooted to the bottom of the IPL 2026 points table. As a batter, the southpaw has scored just 204 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of 128.30 and an average of 25.50.
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Speaking on Cricbuzz, Gavaskar said that LSG need to take Pant out of the firing line after the season and should be allowed to fcous purely on his batting from IPL 2027.
“Sanjiv Goenka had once said in an interview that he wants Pant to create a legacy, play for LSG for the next 10–15 years and win trophies. But sometimes you’ve got to put certain players out of the firing line. After this season, LSG must decide whether they want to keep him as captain. He should be allowed to focus only on his batting, because we all know his capabilities and talent."
“When the team performs badly, that pressure also falls on the skipper. So release him from that and allow him to play freely,” Gavaskar said.
'WE ARE LOSING PANT THE BATTER'
Tiwary chimed in and said that the pressure of captaincy has affected the batting of Pant and play him as a pure batter.
“I feel that, under the pressure of captaincy, we are losing Pant the batter — someone who has performed in international cricket and the IPL previously. He is not getting those runs this season. So release him from the captaincy burden and let him play purely as a batter. That would be best for LSG,” Tiwary added.
The comments from Gavaskar and Tiwary echoed the same sentiment from Wasim Jaffer, who told LSG to replace Pant as skipper and give the responsibility to Aiden Markram.
The latest loss means that Lucknow are all but out of the race for a playoff spot this season.
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