Former Lucknow Super Giants assistant coach Vijay Dahiya has put his weight behind Rishabh Pant to deliver as the franchise’s captain after a disappointing run in IPL 2025. Pant became the most expensive player in IPL history as he was brought for a huge amount of INR 27 crore in the auction but he could not live up to the expectations.
Pant scored 269 runs in 13 innings at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 113.16 and thus could not lead from the front. However, the left-hander ended the season on a high, scoring an unbeaten knock of 118 runs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Dahiya said Pant can start his season from there and added it is not easy to hit the ground running in a new franchise.
Vijay Dahiya said on the SportsYaari YouTube Channel, “First year is challenging for anyone from the captaincy point of view. It’s not easy to do captaincy, and there are some results that could’ve gone in our favor. There were close matches; if they had gone our way, then the decision might have been completely different. It’s a result-oriented game; how the teams perform and the captain’s performance are seen from where you have ended.”
“He is being groomed as captain, and he has the ability required for captaincy. It’s just a word. I think he’s a leader; he can bring people together. Obviously, there is pressure when you enter a new setup… Personally, he finished the season on a good note, scoring a 100. He can start the next season from there,” he added.
Meanwhile, India recently drew the five-match Test series against England 2-2 and Dahiya lauded Shubman Gill’s team for coming up with an impressive performance. The former Indian wicket-keeper bat questioned the team’s critics after the Anderson-Tendulkar series.
He added, “(On Gill’s captaincy) In the third [fourth Test in Manchester], you almost batted 1.5 days to save the Test match. And then you win the last Test to settle for a draw. This doesn’t just show the skillset but also shows the mentality of the dressing room. Anything takes time, and it takes the most for a change in mentality, what kind of cricket you want to play. What kind of culture do you want to create?”
“Whoever has seen that, India has a lot of experts, so har chiz ki baal ki khaal nikali jaati hai (they pull the hair out of the skin). If you look at world cricket and the experts and the series, they also think it was brilliant,” he concluded.
India will be next seen in action in the Asia Cup.
