IPL 2026: A Chance for Rishabh Pant to Shed the ‘Unlucky’ Tag

IPL 2026 could be a defining season for Rishabh Pant as he looks to shed the ‘unlucky captain’ tag and lead Lucknow Super Giants to long-awaited success.

Rishabh Pant IPL 2026 LSG (Image Source: Google)

For Lucknow Super Giants, the IPL 2026 is the season for redemption under Rishabh Pant. The costliest IPL franchise is yet to see any significant success in the IPL: lost in the Play-Offs in the first two seasons and then finished in the seventh position in the last two seasons.

Naturally, in the new season, the focus is primarily on current captain Pant for his leadership as well as batting. He ended the last season with 118* off 61 balls against Gujarat Titans, but before that had scored only 151 runs in 13 matches. This was not the performance the franchisee expected from their Rs.27 crore signee. He has to justify the tag of being the IPL’s most expensive player.

The IPL 2026 season is being viewed as a ‘make-or-break’ season for him with the hope of doing much better than the 269 runs he scored in 14 innings last season. He also has a chance to set the record straight as a captain. So far, he has captained two different teams in more than 50 matches but without any IPL title, with an overall captaincy record: 57 matches (30 wins + 27 losses).

With Delhi Capitals (2021–2024), he earned the tag of a ‘never-say-die’ captain and led them in 43 matches, and then LSG spent a record-breaking Rs. 27 crore at the auction to appoint him captain for the 2025 season, following their disappointment with KL Rahul, but the story remained unchanged.

He may not end up as lucky as Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni as far as winning an IPL title is concerned, but he can come out of the list of the captains who led in 50+ IPL matches, without winning the title.

Virat Kohli (143 matches with 68 wins, 71 losses, 3 ties and 1 no result) is leading the pack as he couldn’t convert his fine batting form into an IPL title as captain (from 2013 to 2021, and again for a few matches in 2023). His is a unique case as he captained only one franchise, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and remains the only captain to have led a team in 100+ matches without ever winning a title.

Virat is still playing but not captaining the side. Similarly, Sanju Samson (67 matches with 33 wins, 33 losses and 1 no result) also doesn’t have the chance to add an IPL title to his record as captain. He led Rajasthan Royals from 2021 to 2025, scored a hundred in his very first match as captain (first IPL captain to record the feat) and, like Virat, amassed a lot of runs but failed to win a title. He has now moved from the Royals.

On the unlucky quotient, KL Rahul is next as he has captained in 64 matches (32 wins, 32 losses) but without winning the IPL title. Among those who have captained more than one team, he is the most unfortunate. Before the 2022 season, the Lucknow Super Giants acquired him for Rs.17 crore as a long-term captaincy prospect, but after 37 matches, they lost faith in him. It appears that they overlooked that he had not won the title for Kings XI Punjab also in the 27 matches before that. He is now not captaining his new side and his record in this capacity stands frozen at this point. Rishabh Pant’s story bears striking similarities with him.

Virender Sehwag was a big name at the start of the IPL. As an iconic player, he was the first captain of the Delhi Daredevils (from 2008 to 2012), took the team to semi-finals in two consecutive seasons (2008 and 2009) and, in 2009, was at the top of the league table but despite captaining them for 52 matches, failed to secure a title. He also led the Punjab team for just a single match. He remains one of the few captains who, despite leading a single franchise for over 50 matches, never managed to win a title. Overall IPL captaincy record 53 matches (29 wins, 24 losses).

Surprisingly, none of the Icons of the IPL met with success as captain and, like Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar also failed to taste the success. He led Mumbai Indians in 51 matches (30 wins, 21 losses), starting from the very first season of the IPL but remained empty-handed. He also holds the distinction of having captained a single team in 50 matches without winning a title.

Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore started with Rahul Dravid (14 matches) and then he was captain of the Rajasthan Royals between 2012 and 2013, taking over from Shane Warne in 34 matches but was unable to deliver a title.