Rishabh Pant's captaincy threats at LSG identified by Sanjiv Goenka: 'I saw a video where he was doing draamebaazi…'

Amid speculations that Rishabh Pant could be the new captain of the Lucknow Super Giants at IPL 2025, franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka offered a fresh twist into the tale when he termed Pant and three other players – Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram as 'leaders of the team'. Pant, bought for ₹27 crore by LSG, created history at the IPL 2025 mega auction, becoming the costliest player ever, and the belief was that with LSG in need of a captain following KL Rahul's departure, the India wicketkeeper would be the most ideal candidate for the post. Top 15 buys at IPL 2025 Auction Share Via Copy Link Rishabh Pant ₹ 27 Cr DC LSG Total Match 111 Total Runs 3284 Highest Score 128 runs Shreyas Iyer ₹ 26.75 Cr KKR PBKS Total Match 115 Total Runs 3127 Highest Score 96 runs Venkatesh Iyer ₹ 23.75 Cr KKR KKR Total Match 50 Total Runs 1326 Highest Score 104 runs Wickets 3 Best Bowling 2/29 Arshdeep Singh ₹ 18 Cr PBKS PBKS Total Match 65 Total Runs 29 Highest Score 10 runs Wickets 76 Best Bowling 5/32 Yuzvendra Chahal ₹ 18 Cr RR PBKS Total Match 260 Total Runs 37 Highest Score 8 runs Wickets 205 Best Bowling 5/40 Jos Buttler ₹ 15.75 Cr RR GT Total Match 107 Total Runs 3582 Highest Score 124 runs KL Rahul ₹ 14 Cr LSG DC Total Match 132 Total Runs 4683 Highest Score 132 runs Trent Boult ₹ 12.50 Cr RR MI Total Match 104 Total Runs 83 Highest Score 17 runs Wickets 121 Best Bowling 4/18 Jofra Archer ₹ 12.50 Cr MI RR Total Match 35 Total Runs 195 Highest Score 27 runs Wickets 46 Best Bowling 3/15 Josh Hazlewood ₹ 12.50 Cr RCB RCB Total Match 12 Total Runs - Highest Score - Wickets 12 Best Bowling 3/24 Mohammed Siraj ₹ 12.25 Cr RCB GT Total Match 93 Total Runs 109 Highest Score 14 runs Wickets 93 Best Bowling 4/21 Mitchell Starc ₹ 11.75 Cr KKR DC Total Match 41 Total Runs 105 Highest Score 29 runs Wickets 51 Best Bowling 4/15 Phil Salt ₹ 11.50 Cr DC RCB Total Match 21 Total Runs 653 Highest Score 89 runs Ishan Kishan ₹ 11.25 Cr MI SRH Total Match 105 Total Runs 2644 Highest Score 99 runs Wickets - Best Bowling - Jitesh Sharma ₹ 11 Cr PBKS RCB Total Match 40 Total Runs 730 Highest Score 49 runs Check Full Coverage "Our internal feeling is that our auction was excellent. What was it about Rishabh Pant that caught Sanjiv Goenka's eyes Pant, always expected to be one of the top picks, lived up to the hype, but the one thing that caught Goenka's attention more than anything else was his game involvement and tactics.