It has not been an ideal start to his IPL 2025 season with Lucknow Super Giants for Rishabh Pant. The Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter has disappointed with the bat and under his leadership, LSG have lost 2 out of their 3 matches in the competition. Pant’s form has resulted in a lot of criticism – both from fans as well as experts – with videos of his on-field interaction with team owner Sanjiv Goenka going viral recently. In a recent interaction, Goenka was asked about Pant’s leadership abilities and he was quick to say that he has complete faith in his skipper and the team was planned around him.

“The moment we knew he (Rishabh) 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. So, 27 is the number we got him at. If it had meant 28, that would have been the number.”

Goenka also went on to say that LSG are ‘different’ this season and have a strong desire to win.

“Well, LSG is different. It’s built around a leader with very strong intent. Every player in the team has intent, a fierce desire to win and is strongly motivated,” Goenka added.

Lucknow Super Giants take on Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2025 encounter on Friday.

Skipper Rishabh Pant’s dismal run with the bat made the franchise heavily reliant on Nicholas Pooran. The West Indies batter, who is currently leading the run-getters chart with 189 runs in three outings, began the campaign with a solid 75 in the opener and followed it up with 70 and 44.

On the bowling front for LSG, barring Shardul Thakur’s four-wicket haul against Sunrisers Hyderabad, all others have failed to make a mark.

But there are signs of good news for the LSG bowling unit, as reports indicate that fast bowler Akashdeep, who is yet to debut for LSG, is likely to be available for the game against MI on Friday.

Akash, who picked up a back injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, has been out of action since December 2024. He last played in T20s in the 2024 IPL while representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the match against MI.

(With PTI inputs)