Lucknow Tremendous Giants (LSG) are poised for a major change of their teaching and mentorship setup as they put together for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The franchise is ready to half methods with their present mentor Zaheer Khan, who joined the workforce earlier than the 2025 season. This transfer comes after a disappointing IPL 2025 marketing campaign and is a part of a broader technique to revamp the management construction inside the RPSG Group’s cricketing ventures.
Zaheer Khan’s tenure at LSG
Zaheer Khan took over mentoring duties at LSG following the departure of Gautam Gambhir after IPL 2023. Along with mentoring, Zaheer additionally assumed bowling coach obligations after Morne Morkel left to hitch the Indian teaching employees. The previous India pacer introduced appreciable expertise, having beforehand labored with Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise in numerous senior roles from 2018 to 2022.
Nonetheless, regardless of flashes of brilliance beneath captain Rishabh Pant, LSG’s efficiency in IPL 2025 was underwhelming, ending seventh on the factors desk with 6 wins out of 14 matches. Accidents to key pacers and inconsistency in bowling have been among the many points that prevented LSG from making the playoffs. This poor efficiency triggered a rethink within the workforce’s growth and training technique, culminating within the resolution to maneuver on from Zaheer Khan forward of the following season.
Management restructuring and appointments within the LSG camp
LSG proprietor Sanjiv Goenka, who’s at present within the UK attending The Hundred event, is predicted to announce a brand new Director of Cricket. This particular person can have a wider mandate, overseeing not solely LSG but in addition different franchises beneath the RPSG Group umbrella, together with Durban’s Tremendous Giants in South Africa’s SA20 and the Manchester Originals in The Hundred.
“LSG is ready to half methods with Zaheer Khan and the brand new mentor shall be given a much bigger position to watch RPSG Group’s different franchises,” reported TOI.
The brand new mentor, slated to interchange Zaheer Khan, shall be entrusted with a bigger portfolio that encompasses year-round oversight, expertise scouting, and participant growth throughout the a number of groups owned by RPSG. This marks a strategic shift in the direction of built-in franchise administration geared toward constructing a sustainable cricketing legacy.
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A key a part of this transition is the latest appointment of Bharat Arun as the brand new bowling coach for LSG. Arun, a former Indian nationwide workforce bowling coach, can be tasked with scouting and nurturing younger fast-bowling expertise not only for LSG but in addition for the Durban Tremendous Giants and Manchester Originals.
“It’s an honour to hitch the Lucknow Tremendous Giants, a franchise that displays professionalism, ambition, and imaginative and prescient at each degree,” Arun stated in an official assertion. “My conversations with Dr. Sanjiv Goenka and the administration have been extremely energizing – there’s a clear intent to spend money on younger Indian expertise and construct a long-term legacy. “What excites me most is the imaginative and prescient for long-term growth. LSG has invested in a younger, proficient, and dynamic group of Indian quick bowlers – Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan, and Akash Singh – and I see immense potential in every of them. My mission is to assist form them right into a cohesive, fearless, and tactically sharp tempo unit that may problem one of the best batting line-ups on the earth.”
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