India, May 5 -- It was just Wasim Jaffer a few days ago, but now it has turned into a chorus, with former cricketers Manoj Tiwary and Rohan Gavaskar echoing the same view. With Lucknow Super Giants' IPL 2026 campaign all but over after their defeat to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, Tiwary and Gavaskar urged the franchise to take the tough call of removing Rishabh Pant as captain - allowing him to play freely as a batter and return to his destructive best in T20 cricket.

Pant joined the Lucknow franchise in 2025 and was named skipper by owner Sanjiv Goenka. However, he managed just 269 runs in 14 innings last season at an average of 24.45. That has improved only marginally this year, with 204 runs in nine matches, but a...