"Aap Lucknow ke naye nawab hain" - Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant's appointment as LSG captain for IPL 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that Rishabh Pant has virtually been anointed the new nawab of Lucknow after being appointed as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain for IPL 2025. He also disclosed that the former Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper had a say in his new franchise's auction picks.

LSG bought Pant for ₹27 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. The wicketkeeper-batter was their first signing at the auction and they subsequently spent ₹41.90 crore to buy 18 more players to assemble a 24-member squad.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener light-heartedly observed that Pant is virtually Lucknow's new ruler.

"Muskuraiye. Aap sirf Lucknow mein nahin, aap Lucknow ke naye nawab hain (You are not only in Lucknow, you are Lucknow's new nawab). You will sit on that throne now. Very few people know that Rishabh Pant has an extremely old relationship with Lucknow," he said (0:01).

Chopra pointed out that LSG have three dynamic leaders at the helm.

"This franchise's dynamics are very interesting because Zaheer Khan, Rishabh Pant and Sanjiv Goenka, the RPSG group chairman, are all here. Sanjiv Goenka is the owner and he has multiple teams. He has Durban Super Giants, had Rising Pune Super Giants, then he came to Lucknow Super Giants, and he also has a football team. So they know the business of sport," he elaborated.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Pant, who has been added to the list of wicketkeeper-batters who have captained franchises owned by Sanjiv Goenka, provided his inputs on squad selection after he had been picked in the auction.

"He has had excellent captains under him. He likes making wicketkeeper-batter captains. MS Dhoni - RPSG, KL Rahul before this, and now Rishabh Pant. Rishabh had a lot of input in the team that was built, which is good. Rishabh spoke about what he wants to create here and the owner and Rishabh are on the same page," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra noted that Rishabh Pant will have new challenges as Uttar Pradesh, although it might have been late in getting an IPL team, is India's most populous state. He added that most Indian Prime Ministers have gone through the UP route, which might be a good omen for Pant in his quest to become Team India captain.

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"It's an all-Indian bowling attack" - Aakash Chopra on the cricketing challenges for Rishabh Pant

Mayank Yadav is one of the promising bowlers in LSG's lineup. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra highlighted some potential captaincy challenges for Rishabh Pant in IPL 2025.

"What will be the challenges? It's an all-Indian bowling attack. It's promising but entirely Indian. They have three left-handers in the middle and all of them are mighty. Left is right and then all three at the top are right-handers. So it will be interesting to see who would open and who would bat where," he said (3:05).

Shamar Joseph is the only overseas bowler in LSG's squad. They have three formidable left-handed middle-order batters in Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran and David Miller, with Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad being the prominent right-handed batters in their lineup.