‘’The hard part is explaining things to people who come from a non-sporting background,’’ KL Rahul said, admitting in the aftermath of his fallout with Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka that captaining the franchise was a draining experience because of the micromanagement. He switched base to Delhi Capitals, and Rishabh Pant was signed as a replacement for a whooping 27 crores, an ultra-aggressive bid for a marquee face that had the fraternity whispering about an ego trip. On comeback trail from a life-threatening accident, the kind of season the keeper-bat had did little to justify the price tag. He scored 269 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 133.16, failing to usher his side into the playoffs.
Purse strings loosened for Pant and Pooran last year
Following the departure of KL Rahul, the team was revamped, with key cogs like Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, and Mayank Yadav retained and heft lended to the batting order by the procurement of David Miller, Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh. Pant worked closely with head coach Justin Langer, whom he interacted with sporadically on the sidelines of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, and new team mentor Zaheer Khan. In hindsight, there was too much turbulence as Lucknow Super Giants failed to click in unison, languishing at the seventh place with six wins from 14 matches. Their campaign drew criticism over auction strategy, combination woes and contingency planning – factors which are interlinked to one another.
The high-cost acquisitions of Pant and Pooran left insufficient funds to build a quality, balanced bowling unit. They bought Akash Deep for 8 crores but he sat out the initial stages of the tournament due to a sore back. Having impressed in the 2022 edition with 14 wickets at an average of 14.07, left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan missed the entire season. Injury-prone tearaway Mayank Yadav, who was retained by Lucknow Super Giants, mostly warmed the bench. Avesh Khan also struggled with fitness, rhythm and execution while Shardul Thakur – drafted in for Mohsin – tapered off after a promising start. Digvesh Rathi was the only bowler to play all 12 games, returning 14 wickets at an economy rate of 8.18.
“In an ideal world, it’s great to have Pooran, Miller, Marsh, Pant – all are formidable batters but at the end of the day you need to bowl,’’ Tom Moody noted. ‘’You’ve got to be able to have an impactful bowling unit in PowerPlays. Be adaptable in the middle overs, take wickets and squeeze the opposition. At the back-end of the innings, you need people to close the game under pressure and deliver those really challenging overs when the opposition is going hell-for-leather. I just don’t think they’ve got any of that.”
Muskuraaiye, Super Giants vapas aa rahe hain 🤩🗓️
𝟭 𝗔𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗟 👉 Humaare season ki shuruwat, Ekana mein 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/8IXyWjtnbs
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) March 11, 2026
Seasoned pros bring along a wealth of experience
The inclusion of veterans Mohammad Shami, an expensive trade from Sunrisers Hyderabad, and bowling coach Bharat Arun is a move aimed at making Lucknow Super Giants shrewder with the ball as they failed to defend scores of 171, 166, 159, 205 and 227 last year. Anrich Nortje and Wanindu Hasaranga are the overseas picks in their attack, with many considering the Sri Lankan all-rounder a steal at 2 crores. A crafty leg-spinner with a lethal wrong’ un, he claimed the second-most wickets in T20s in 2024 and is the epitome of a three-dimensional cricketer. Shahbaz Ahmed is another spin resource Lucknow Super Giants have in their ranks while Ayush Badoni, who was recently called up by India to substitute Washington Sundar, and Abdul Samad can chip in as part-timers, especially since there are clouds over Hasaranga’s availability and Bishnoi is now a part of Rajasthan Royals.
Onus on the Indian middle-order to sustain the impetus
The bright spot for Lucknow Super Giants has been their established top-order. By putting faith in overseas pros, particularly Marsh and Pooran, they ensured their swashbucklers got maximum time in the middle. Their 80s against Kolkata Knight Riders proved the point of difference in a game where 472 runs were amassed. Markram had five fifties under his belt. Albeit here for a short duration, Josh Inglis is enjoying a purple patch. In terms of Indian firepower, Akshat Raghuvanshi, Samad, Himmat Singh, Badoni and Arshin Kulkarni will extend support to skipper Pant who salvaged his pride with an explosive 118 in the last league match of IPL 2025.
“We want to create a place where people can come and express themselves. It is just a very simple idea,’’ Pant had outlined his philosophy after taking over the reins from Rahul. Such a liberating environment has fuelled his own success internationally, and a precocious talent like Mukul Choudhary would certainly benefit from that culture. Lucknow Super Giants spent 2.60 crores to secure the services of the dasher after an intense bidding war that transpired courtesy of his tally of 617 runs for Rajasthan in the Men’s State A fixtures and an unbeaten 62 against Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
His clean-striking has the potential to alleviate Lucknow Super Giants’ middle-order mess, considering Miller and Pant’s flop show culminated into a four-match losing streak that ended their qualification hopes. Meanwhile, they’ll continue banking on Badoni, the achiever of most 50+ scores from No.5 or lower for the franchise that has not progressed beyond the double round-robin stage in the last two seasons.
Young blood poised to bring in the X-factor for Lucknow
A disastrous mid-season slump where they went an entire month without a win had killed the momentum previously, hence Lucknow Super Giants would be determined to taste glory in a more consistent fashion. The highly-rated Raghuvanshi and Naman Tiwari, a gun left-arm seamer who typically moves the new ball away from right-handers, could be the architects of that uniformity Lucknow Super Giants seek.
Prince Yadav is another lively customer, his zing best exemplified by the dismissal of Travis Head in Hyderabad. The pitches at their home ground Ekana are low and slow, therefore the speed through the air that, for instance, Mark Wood brought to the table gains importance. Remedial measures have been adopted to construct a healthier campaign, but the question lingers, can the talismanic Pant employ the dynamism that has defined his career to thrust Lucknow Super Giants to higher honours?
