Rishabh Pant named Lucknow Super Giants captain, vows to give his all for maiden IPL title

Pant was picked at the mega auction for an IPL record Rs 27 crore by the franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka

Kolkata: Dynamic keeper-batter Rishabh Pant was on Monday named the captain of Lucknow Super Giants for the upcoming IPL and he vowed to give his “200 percent” to win the team’s maiden title.

Pant was picked at the mega auction for an IPL record Rs 27 crore by the franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka. “I will give my 200 percent. That’s my commitment to you. I will try whatever is there in my power to repay the faith. I am really excited and looking forward to new beginning and new energy. And have a blast out there with lot of fun,” Pant told media persons after being unveiled as the new skipper.

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“We start with new hope and aspirations. And most importantly, new confidence. I wanted to introduce you all to our new captain Rishabh Pant,” Goenka said.

This is Pant’s second stint as a leader in the IPL. At his former franchise Delhi Capitals, the captaincy became a point of contention, leading the 27-year-old Pant to opt out of DC’s retention plans after unsuccessful negotiations.

Asked about his new team going the distance in the next IPL, Pant sounded optimistic. “Definitely happy with the team. We have a mix of youth and experienced players. We have not been where we wanted to be… that’s the journey how we can take this franchise to newer heights.

Despite DC’s interest in keeping him, they were not fully committed to him leading the side, prompting Pant to re-enter the auction. At the auction, they pipped Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG to get Pant for Rs 20.75 crore, eventually they had to raise their price to Rs 27 crore to outbid Delhi Capitals’ right-to-match card.

“I know it’s a new beginning for me, new franchise, new owner. The ideology of captaining the side doesn’t change. We will add a lot of things which we will discuss with the management and will see how we would take this forward in a better way.” Speaking about his captaincy mantra, “I’ve learnt from a lot of captains, seniors. You don’t only learn from captains, a lot of senior players are also there.

“With Rohit bhai, you learnt how to care of a player. If you give confidence and trust he will do things which you can’t imagine. That’s the kind of ideology we will have. We will have a clear communication and a never-say-die attitude.

“How far are you willing to take it. That’s the kind of character we are looking for in our team.” Pant, who had been with DC since 2016, was appointed captain in 2021 and led the team until 2023 before a near-fatal car accident in December 2022 had ruled him out.

Set to appear in their fourth season of the league, Goenka termed it an “important moment” for the team. “We finished the first leg of three years, we started the process of rebooting and planning.”