After two disappointing IPL seasons, the Lucknow Super Giants are about to undergo a leadership change. Director of Cricket Tom Moody admitted that skipper Rishabh Pant struggled to handle the pressures of captaincy.
Depending on the outcome of Mumbai Indians’ final game, LSG, who finished seventh in 2025, would finish either ninth or tenth in the IPL 2026 season. The team won just 10 of its 28 games over the course of two seasons when Pant was captain.
“From a captaincy point of view, you know, he’s found it challenging, obviously, and the results reflect that,” PTI quoted Moody telling reporters after the seven-wicket loss to Punjab Kings on Saturday.
“And you do have to wonder whether that is a pressure that is reflected with 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’ll consider all things.”
Pant, who was already under a lot of scrutiny after being bought for an unprecedented Rs 27 crore, also found it difficult to have a big impact with the bat.
Widely regarded as one of India’s most explosive batters, the wicketkeeper-opener produced outstanding seasons in 2018 and 2019, scoring 684 runs at a strike rate of 173.60 in the former and 488 runs at 162.66 in the latter.
He scored 581 runs with a strike rate of 135.74 during the course of two seasons at LSG, falling short of his career strike rate of 144.18, but he was unable to replicate that effect.
Mody’s remarks follow Pant’s removal from the ODI team and losing India’s Test vice-captaincy to KL Rahul.
“But certainly we haven’t 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’s certainly something that we’ll be taking some very serious consideration to, you know, what it looks like in the future. Like every department, when you do reflect on a season, we will be making some considered decisions, but it certainly looks like that we’re needing to consider a reset.”
Moody chose to take collective responsibility for the team’s struggles rather than blaming specific players for the dismal campaign.
“We’re all responsible (for the disappointing season). I don’t think it’s a time to point the finger at any individual. 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’s certain things that we do need to address, and that will be addressed,” Moody said.
