Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant has had a horrendous start to his IPL 2025 journey as he failed to get going to in all the four matches of the tournament so far. Pant, who is IPL’s costliest player after being picked by LSG for ₹27 crore at this year’s mega auction, suffered another setback during the match against Mumbai Indians on Sunday as he was dismissed on a score of just 2 runs after failiing to capitalize on a good start laid by his openers.
After Pant’s dismissal, netizens were focused on the reaction of LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka who is known famously for his on-field outburst of anger towards KL Rahul during last year’s IPL. While Goenka’s unhappy look after Pant’s dismissal during the last match had garnered a lot of attention online, the LSG owner kept a calm demeanour but with a wry smile on his face.
What did Goenka say about Pant?
Goenka was all praise for the new LSG skipper before this year’s IPL as he detailed the strategy for shelling out ₹27 crore on the stylish left-hander.
“The moment we knew he was not being retained, we planned the team around him. I’ve said this before and I have no hesitation in saying it again. I believe he’s a great leader. His best leadership is yet to come,” Goenka said.
“So 27 is the number we got him at. If it meant 28, that would have been the number. We were very clear — we needed a leader who trusts and backs his instincts, who is fearless, who’s destructive. And in Rishabh, we get all of that,” the LSG owner added.
In this season of IPL, Pant has managed to score just 19 runs in four matches with scores of 0,15, 2, and 2. During the last encounter against Mumbai Indians, Pant tried to flick a delivery from Hardik Pandya, but the ball stuck a bit in the pitch, and the left-hander lost his wicket as Pandya completed the catch with ease.
