Rishabh Pant announced LSG captain ahead of IPL 2025

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have announced Rishabh Pant as the captain of the franchise on Monday ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Rishabh Pant, who was released by Delhi Capitals, was bought by LSG for a whopping ₹27 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction that took place in Saudi Arabia last year. In the process, Rishabh Pant became the costliest player in the history of the cash-rich league.

"It feels amazing," was Rishabh Pant's first reaction after being named LSG skipper. Ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, LSG retained five players - Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan.

"The amount of strategising that was done revolved around Rishabh, it was done keeping him in mind," LSG's principal owner Sanjiv Goenka said while announcing Rishabh Pant as the captain. “I think, time will prove that he is not only the most expensive player of IPL but also the best player of IPL,” Goenka added.

Since their debut in IPL, LSG qualified for the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 before falling out out of the top four in 2024. Rishabh Pant, thus replaced KL Rahul, who led LSG in the first three seasons. Notably, KL Rahul went to Delhi Capitals, which was Rishabh Pant's previous team.

For the unknown, Rishabh Pant was a part of Delhi Capitals since 2016. The wicketkeeper-batter missed IPL 2023 due to injuries sustained during a horrific car accident on December 30, 2022.

The southpaw returned to cricket in IPL 2024 with Delhi Capitals and scored 446 runs. His performance in the IPL 2024 also earned him a place in the triumphant Indian team at the T20 World Cup 2024. Rishabh Pant has so far scored 3,284 runs in 111 IPL matches.

IPL 2025 start date and venue

The IPL 2025 will start on March 23 with the first match being played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Kolkata Knight Riders are the defending champions.