Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have parted ties with team mentor Zaheer Khan following only one season, ahead of the IPL 2026. The former Indian bowler, who joined the team in August 2024, had a brief tenure before the decision was confirmed on Thursday.
The LSG has not qualified in the last two editions, despite making the playoffs in their first two seasons in 2022 and 2023. LSG finished ninth in the IPL 2025 standings with just six victories from 14 games under new captain Rishabh Pant. The team lost steam in the second half and only won once in their last six games, despite having a strong start with five victories in their first eight games.
Zaheer Khan Parts Ways With Lucknow Super Giants After Strategic Misalignment
According to rumors, a conflict of vision was the main cause of Zaheer’s departure. His planning and strategy methods were incompatible with those of franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka and head coach Justin Langer. Zaheer was claimed to be annoyed by what he saw as crowded thinking in the management and support personnel, despite having a close relationship with captain Rishabh Pant.
The retired pacer started his career by taking over Gautam Gambhir who resigned as the manager of LSG in 2023 to rejoin the Kolkata Knight Riders before receiving the position of head coach of India. LSG expected Zaheer to provide stability and direction since he had experience with the Mumbai Indians since 2018 to 2022 and helped to build powerful teams.
One of his most significant contributions was rearranging the batting order to accommodate Pant and international players such as Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran. In order to give Pant more freedom and lessen the load on Pooran, Zaheer pushed for Marsh and Markram to open. With Pooran having one of his best seasons and Marsh finishing as the fifth-highest run scorer of the 2025 Indian Premier League, the transfer worked. However, LSG’s entire campaign did not live up to expectations, especially at their home stadium, Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, where they only won two of eight games.
