Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team mentor Zaheer Khan will not remain in the pivotal post ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season. The former fast bowler has apparently parted ways with the franchise after being roped in last year. The coach informed about his decision on September 17.
According to the ESPNCricinfo report, it is understood that Zaheer quitting his mentor role was primarily due to his vision not being aligned with the franchise owner, Sanjeev Goenka, and head coach Justin Langer. While the former pacer's relationship with LSG skipper Rishabh Pant remained strong, he was massively affected by the thought process behind LSG's sudden sliding down the points table in the second half of the IPL 2025 season.
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Notably, Zaheer had joined LSG in 2024 on a long-term basis to partner alongside Langer. The Indian mentor had primarily been acquired by the LSG franchise to fill the void left by Gautam Gambhir in the IPL 2023 season. Zaheer had previously been with MI from 2018 to 2022 and agreed to a two-year contract with LSG, taking ownership of scouting, planning, and strategy. After making it through the playoffs in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, LSG failed to reach the knockouts in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In the 2025 season, they finished seventh with six wins from 14 games.
It was a season of contrasting halves, as in the first half, LSG had five wins in their first eight matches, but only one win in the next six matches. Of the eight games they played at their home ground at Ekana Stadium, they managed just two wins.
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Looking ahead, it is still not clear who will replace Zaheer in the mentoring role. Notably, LSG spent a huge amount of money to acquire the services of Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore (USD 3.2 million approx.). The team was also built around him, but it was Zaheer who put in place building blocks that he felt were needed to grow powerful every season. It was also the former pacer's decision to go with Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh as openers.
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The move paid rich dividends as the duo formed a formidable pair upfront and helped LSG to have solid starts upfront. Looking ahead, LSG will not like to tinker with that combination and look to plug a few loopholes ahead of the IPL mini auction later this year.
