Zaheer Khan parted ways with LSG following IPL 2025.
Despite a decent start to IPL 2025, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lost their way in the second half of the season and couldn’t qualify for the playoffs. Following the season, mentor Zaheer Khan parted ways with the franchise, despite serving them for only one season.
In a TOI Sports show, the reporters confirmed that disagreements over the batting positions of two of the most expensive players, Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran, led to Zaheer’s exit, as he was not on the same page with head coach Justin Langer. According to their sources, Langer wanted Pant to bat at No.3, with Pooran stepping into a position below, but Zaheer felt his best would come in the top order.
That left Rishabh Pant with two choices: open the innings or bat at No.4 or below, and he chose the latter, most probably because he had performed that role for Delhi Capitals (DC) before. Unfortunately, the move didn’t work for him, as he underperformed throughout the edition and couldn’t justify his price tag.
ALSO READ:
Additionally, owners raised questions on the unsettled batting position of Ayush Badoni in the post-season team review meeting. Eventually, Langer could justify his strategy and vision, but they were not convinced by Zaheer’s views and asked him to continue in a revised role, which he declined and cut his ties with the franchise.
When LSG bought Rishabh Pant for a whopping INR 27 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, a possibility of him opening the innings was very much on the cards, given the team structure. The idea would have been to slot him at the top with Mitchell Marsh, with Nicholas Pooran at No.3, followed by Aiden Markram at No.4.
However, Marsh and Markram formed a successful opening pair and did the bulk of the scoring throughout the edition, while Pooran was also effective at one down, at least in the first half. However, Rishabh Pant remained underwhelming throughout, but his batting returns could have been better had he batted in Pooran’s spot.
His best knock of the season – a century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final league game – came at No.3, which confirmed LSG missed the trick by restricting him below in the order. Pooran was obviously fabulous at No.3, but he is more flexible and skilled to bat at No.4 and could have batted at this position to accommodate Pant in the top order, where his best in T20s have come over the years.
Similarly, Badoni batted in three different positions: once at No.4, eight times at No.5, and twice at No.6, as he never got going, even if he was brilliant in patches. His batting position, however, is not a new issue; LSG have never really given him a settled spot and have tried him at various slots since getting him in 2022.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
