Zaheer Khan parts ways with LSG ahead of IPL 2026

In a surprising development, Zaheer Khan decided to part ways with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He served the team for one season and decided to leave the job ahead of IPL 2026.

The former India pacer was appointed as the mentor of the team before the 2025 season league when Lucknow Super Giants was unable to qualify for the knockout phase. The future of Zaheer in IPL, as of now, is surrounded by uncertainty. The reason behind his departure from LSG—that too is not anywhere mentioned officially, but according to a report published by ESPNcricinfo, "The main reason for Zaheer quitting, it is understood, is that his vision for the franchise did not align with that of head coach Justin Langer and team owner Sanjeev Goenka."

It is further claimed that in the franchise, there could be multiple theories, which ultimately let the team down. Lucknow Super Giants captured the headlines when they spent a record-breaking INR 27 crore only to secure the service of Rishabh Pant. Rishabh came in place of KL Rahul, who left the team before IPL 2025. LSG started their IPL 2025 campaign on a high note but eventually lost their momentum and crashed out of the playoff contention.

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Zaheer Khan's shocking decision ahead of IPL 2026

In the first eight matches of IPL 2025, LSG had five wins, but they managed just one more win in their last six games. They concluded the season as the seventh team of the points table with six wins, which played a role behind the move. Though, there is no such clarity in the theory.

It will be interesting to see whether the former India cricketer finds his next destination in the league before the upcoming season. On the other side, after repeated failures and controversies around the club, how the LSG franchise will prepare themselves for another season will be interesting to see.