Zaheer faces the heat over LSG contract renewal

It's been just a day since IPL Season 18 ended, and already the off-season rumblings have begun. Several franchises are expected to make changes to their personnel and coaching staff ahead of the next season and the most significant shake-up could be in the Lucknow Super Giants team.

A seventh-place finish, with just six wins from 14 games, is unlikely to have impressed the franchise management. Questions are now being raised about the future of certain key members of the Lucknow Super Giants' coaching staff, currently operating under the mentorship of Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer (46) himself is facing the heat. It is learnt that when Zaheer was roped in as a mentor before the start of last year's auction, he was onboarded with only a one-year contract. That contract has to be renewed and sources say it will be a surprise if he is actually continued.

Zaheer was brought in to work alongside head coach Justin Langer, whose contract is also up for renewal. While it's unclear how well the two coordinated during the season, there appears to be a sense of dissatisfaction within the squad and the management. The buzz at this stage suggests that the spotlight is more on Zaheer than on Langer.

The LSG franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka is known to be passionate about cricket and the IPL prospects and for the last two seasons the team has not managed to make the play-offs. Though Zaheer cannot be answerable for the 2024 season, the management is not too happy with the way the team performed this season.

Zaheer is said to have shared a strong professional rapport with skipper Rishabh Pant, who, however, was a major disappointment with the bat. Pant scored 269 runs in 14 games, including a century and a half-century, but failed to make any meaningful contributions in the remaining 12 matches.

While the team mentor cannot be held responsible for the captain's underwhelming performance, it was Zaheer who helped shape the team's vision and approach. Both he and Pant had spoken about playing a fearless brand of cricket this season. But whatever the intended approach, it clearly did not yield expected results.