Rishabh Pant’s LSG Captaincy Debut Ends in Embarrassment, Faces Online Backlash After Golden Duck

Rishabh Pant walked out for his first match as Lucknow Super Giants captain carrying the weight of the most expensive price tag in IPL history. INR 27 crore had been spent to bring him to Lucknow at the 2025 mega auction, and the franchise had handed him the leadership as the centrepiece of a new era. What followed was a nightmare start.

On 24 March 2025, against the Delhi Capitals at Visakhapatnam, Pant’s captaincy debut unravelled in the most painful way possible. He was run out for a six-ball duck, his team lost a match they should have won by a single wicket, and social media did what social media does. Within hours, the most expensive player in IPL history was the most trolled.

A Dream Start That Turned Into a Nightmare

For the first 30 overs of the match, everything looked perfect for Lucknow. Batting first, LSG piled up 209 for 8, powered by brutal half-centuries from Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran. Marsh smashed 72 off 36 balls and Pooran hammered 75 off just 30, and at the halfway mark Lucknow looked set for a comfortable opening win.

Delhi’s chase started badly. They lost early wickets and were struggling at 65 for 5, then 113 for 6. LSG were in complete control. But cricket has a way of punishing teams that relax, and Delhi’s lower order refused to give in. Ashutosh Sharma played the innings of his life, smashing an unbeaten 66 off 31 balls, and found support from debutant Vipraj Nigam. Delhi clawed their way to 211 for 9 and won by one wicket with three balls to spare.

The Six-Ball Duck

Pant’s own evening had gone wrong long before the final over. Coming in to bat with Lucknow well placed, he never found any rhythm. He scratched around for six balls without scoring and was then run out after a mix-up in the middle, walking back for a duck on the biggest night of his IPL career.

For a player bought for 27 crore and appointed captain days earlier, the symbolism was brutal. The cameras caught his disbelief as he walked off. The Lucknow dugout, which had celebrated the auction coup just months earlier, sat in stunned silence.

The 27-Crore Price Tag Pressure

Context matters here. Pant was not just another signing. Lucknow had released KL Rahul and gone all-in on Pant at the Jeddah mega auction, paying INR 27 crore, the highest price ever paid for a player in IPL history. The franchise then named him captain, replacing Rahul as the face of the team.

That price tag follows a player everywhere. Every failure gets measured against 27 crore. Every duck becomes a meme. Pant, one of the most naturally gifted batters of his generation, suddenly found himself under a kind of scrutiny few cricketers have ever faced. His captaincy debut was always going to be judged harshly, and a golden duck in a one-wicket defeat was the worst possible start.

Online Backlash After the Defeat

The reaction online was swift and merciless. Within minutes of the run out, Pant’s name was trending, and not kindly. Fans and meme pages tore into the price tag, the captaincy, and the defeat. Old clips of the auction bidding war resurfaced with sarcastic captions. Rival fan bases, particularly Delhi supporters, had a field day.

Some of the criticism was fair sporting debate. A captain who gets out for a duck and then watches his team lose from a winning position will always face questions. But much of it crossed into the personal, the kind of pile-on that has become routine whenever a high-profile player fails. Former players largely defended Pant, pointing out that one match does not define a captain or a season, and that his record as a match-winner for India and Delhi Capitals spoke for itself.

Pant’s Road to the LSG Captaincy

Pant’s appointment as Lucknow captain was the culmination of one of cricket’s great comeback stories. In December 2022, he survived a horrific car accident that left him with serious knee injuries and kept him out of the game for over a year. Many wondered whether he would ever keep wicket again, let alone return to his destructive best.

He answered those doubts in IPL 2024, returning for Delhi Capitals with 446 runs and his trademark fearlessness intact, and then reclaimed his place in India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad. When Delhi released him ahead of the 2025 mega auction, a bidding war erupted. Lucknow’s 27-crore winning bid made him the most expensive player in IPL history and the centrepiece of their rebuild. The captaincy was the franchise’s statement of intent: this was Pant’s team now. Which is exactly why the Visakhapatnam duck stung so much.

What It Meant for LSG’s Season

The defeat exposed real concerns for Lucknow beyond their captain’s personal form. Their bowling attack, expensive at the death throughout the evening, could not defend 210. The fielding was sloppy at key moments. And the team’s over-reliance on Pooran and Marsh with the bat was clear for all to see.

For Pant personally, the challenge was to separate the captain from the batter. Great players have bounced back from worse starts, and Pant’s career has been built on fearless comebacks, from his Test heroics in Australia to his return from a life-threatening car accident. One duck, however public, was never going to be the final word. But the Visakhapatnam night remained a reminder of how thin the line is at the top, and how quickly adulation can turn when 27 crore is on the invoice.

Why was Rishabh Pant trolled after the LSG vs DC match?

Pant was run out for a six-ball duck on his captaincy debut for Lucknow Super Giants, and his team went on to lose by one wicket after being in a winning position. Given his record INR 27 crore price tag, fans and meme pages mocked him relentlessly on social media.

How was Rishabh Pant dismissed on his LSG captaincy debut?

Pant was run out for a duck after facing six balls, following a mix-up in the middle during Lucknow’s innings against Delhi Capitals at Visakhapatnam on 24 March 2025.

How much did LSG pay for Rishabh Pant?

Lucknow Super Giants bought Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, the highest price ever paid for a player in IPL history.

Who won the LSG vs DC match in IPL 2025?

Delhi Capitals won by one wicket with three balls to spare, chasing down Lucknow’s 209 for 8. Ashutosh Sharma’s unbeaten 66 off 31 balls won the game for Delhi.

Who was LSG captain before Rishabh Pant?

KL Rahul captained Lucknow Super Giants in their first three seasons before being released ahead of the 2025 mega auction. Pant replaced him as captain for IPL 2025.