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27 Crore in Drain! How Sanjeev Goenka's Long-Standing Mistakes Are Costing His Team

Anurag Dasgupta

How Goenka got fooled thrice [Source: @HashTagCricket/X.com] How Goenka got fooled thrice [Source: @HashTagCricket/X.com]

Sanjeev Goenka may have a brilliant business mind, but when it comes to Cricket, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner comes up short. When he bought LSG in 2022, there were high expectations from the team, but three seasons and four matches later, he might be regretting one of his key auction decision.

For years, the owner of LSG and former IPL side, Rising Pune Supergiant, Goenka, has made one glaring mistake, and that is to make a wicket-keeper batter his captain. This happened with MS Dhoni, the same mistake was repeated with KL Rahul and now he spent 27 crores to buy another keeper-batter in Rishabh Pant.

Mistake number 1 in MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings were banned from the IPL for the 2016, 2017 edition and in that time frame, two new teams were introduced with MS Dhoni becoming the captain of the Rising Pune Supergiant.

A lot was expected of Thala, the captain, but under his tenure, the team had a disastrous debut season, finishing at the second last position, winning just 5 matches. Goenka, immediately rectified the mistake and appointed Steve Smith as the captain for the next season.

Mistake number 2 in KL Rahul

KL Rahul was the face of the LSG team when Goenka bought the team and immediately he made the keeper/batter the team's captain. Unlike MS Dhoni, KL Rahul managed to take his team to the playoffs, but throughout his three-year stint, KL Rahul was heavily criticised for his performance and as a result, he also had a heated debate with the captain last season. Eventually, KL was released ahead of the mega auction.

Mistake number 3, spending 27 crore on Pant

For some reason, Sanjeev Goenka went hard for Rishabh Pant and paid a whopping 27 crore to make him his captain. Another Indian player, another captain for his team. Well, 4 matches into the new season and it looks like the 27 crore is in the mud.

In 4 matches, he has only accumulated 19 runs, and has looked a pale shadow of himself. Just like Dhoni's debuts season for Pune Supergiant, Pant's captaincy also looks unimpressive and it seems he is heading towards the same fate.