Sunil Gavaskar Predicts "Many" Captaincy Changes In IPL After Rishabh Pant Steps Down

Andy Flower has now won two back-to-back IPL titles as coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru. If at the forefront of RCB's success in the IPL 2026 were the preserve of stars like Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya and others, the role of the backroom staff was brilliant. Flower earlier served as assistant coach to Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2020 and 2021 before joining Lucknow Super Giants as the head coach. In August 2023, Flower was appointed as the head coach of RCB.

While RCB have had a brilliant run, Flower's earlier team Lucknow Super Giants finished last among 10 teams in the IPL 2026. After their campaign ended, Pant stepped down from the captaincy. India legend Sunil Gavaskar highlighted LSG's coaching staff's role. He went on to say there could be other captaincy changes too.

"Rishabh Pant stepping down as the captain of his team, which finished bottom of the table, is the first change in captaincy for the next season, as there could well be many more before the new season starts next year. He did say on more than one occasion that there were too many voices in his ear and too many thought processes, which is definitely not a compliment to the support staff. Whether that leads to a wholesale change at the franchise will be interesting to see," Sunil Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.

"Talk is easy, and it is cheap too, and making big claims like some coaches have may make good headlines, but cricket has a funny way of biting on the backside."

He gave the example of RCB coach Andy Flower as someone who does his job quietly. "Andy Flower, the coach of RCB, which has now won two back-to-back titles, is a fine example of someone who works quietly, with no big statements that make headlines, and no golfing and beer-drinking buddies as members of his support staff either," he wrote.

"Maybe there's a lesson there. If only those who appoint them could see that, then their teams would not be out of contention even before the first month of the tournament is over."

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Topics mentioned in this article

Rishabh Pant Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 Sunil Gavaskar Cricket