New Delhi, India

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Sanjiv Goenka explained why he was adamant about having Rishabh Pant in his franchise for IPL 2025. In the recently-held IPL 2025 auction, in Saudi Arabia, Pant became the most expensive player, breaking the bank for INR 270 million (INR 27 crore). Goenka revealed how he saw a video of Pant and was keen to have someone like him in the LSG dressing room.

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Talking on Aakash Chopra's YouTube channel, Goenka said, "I saw a video of Rishabh where he did dramebaazi (acting) on the field. He slowed the momentum (talking about Pant's act from the 2024 T20 World Cup final). I liked that attitude a lot, that you have that extra thought to change the momentum when everything was going against us by removing the pads. From that time, I had in my mind that if only Rishabh had been in my team."

"That one thing of his appealed to me a lot. Along with that, he came back from a near-fatal injury, and he has come back to a form which is better than his original form. So that resilience and ability to fight and rise again matter a lot. Rishabh is 27. So I hope he will be with LSG for the next 10-12 years."

Also read: Ajinkya Rahane, not Venkatesh Iyer, leads race to captain KKR in IPL 2025 – Report

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Goenka also spoke about LSG's new-look squad, also comprising Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Avesh Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, etc. "Our internal feeling is that our auction was excellent. Our focus was that our middle order and finishing should be extremely strong. Our No. 3 to No. 8 is very strong. Our second wish was to go with a completely Indian pace attack instead of international pace, and explosive international batters. Now we have got a combination of the two."

Hinting at the next captain, the owner added, "We have four leaders in our team - Rishabh, Pooran, Markram and Mitch Marsh. So it becomes a very strong leadership pool of intellect and thought, and strategy. They are all people who can go with the mindset to win. Rishabh has the hunger and passion to win. So a good team has been built. We are happy. Overall, the balance is also okay and no team is 10 on 10."

LSG complete squad for IPL 2025

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David Miller, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Aryan Juyal, Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Yuvraj Choudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Aiden Markram, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh