"We have 4 leaders in our team" - Sanjiv Goenka on LSG's squad after IPL 2025 auction
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka believes the franchise have assembled an excellent squad for IPL 2025. He pointed out that they have four leaders in Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, and Mitchell Marsh as part of their contingent.
Pooran (₹21 crore) was LSG's most expensive retention before the auction. They acquired Pant (₹27 crore), Markram (₹2 crore), and Marsh (₹3.40 crore) at the mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener asked Goenka about his thoughts on the Lucknow Super Giants' auction.
"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," Goenka replied.
"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," he added.
Apart from Pant, Avesh Khan (₹9.75 crore) and Akash Deep (₹8 crore) were LSG's most expensive buys at the auction. David Miller (₹7.50 crore) was their costliest overseas pick.
"I saw a video of Rishabh where he did dramebaazi on the field" - Sanjiv Goenka on LSG's acquisition of Rishabh Pant
![The Delhi Capitals released Rishabh Pant ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/8a0d9-17331144158568-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same video, Sanjiv Goenka disclosed that Rishabh Pant's momentum-changing antics in the 2024 T20 World Cup final made him wish that the wicketkeeper-batter should be a part of the Lucknow Super Giants.
"I saw a video of Rishabh where he did dramebaazi (acting) on the field. He slowed the momentum. 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," he said.
The chairperson of the RPSG group also praised Pant's resilience and fighting ability and expressed hope of him staying with LSG for the next decade or so.
"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," Goenka observed.
Pant missed IPL 2023 due to injuries sustained in a horrific car accident. With 446 runs at a strike rate of 155.40 in 13 innings, he was the Delhi Capitals' highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.