Rishabh Pant stayed put and did not walk out to bat even after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lost three wickets during their chase against Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow. After the match, Pant said the call was made to ensure batters who have not received much time in IPL 2026 get opportunities in the middle.
LSG were on 135 for no loss in the 12th over, having already narrowed the 188-run target. However, the chase suddenly tilted as they slipped into trouble, losing three wickets within a span of nine runs. Nicholas Pooran arrived at number three, with Abdul Samad and Mukul Choudhary following, and LSG eventually finished the job with seven wickets to spare.
“See, I was ready to bat and the idea came up,” Pant said during the post-match presentation. “I was in the dressing room. The plan that came up was: why not give chances to players who haven’t played much? They haven’t had many opportunities, and that was the thought. I kept thinking, should I do it or not, because I still wanted to be out there in the field. But you know, sometimes you have to respect certain things—the think tank.”
This IPL, Pant has not batted below number four. Even while LSG were losing wickets, he was seen padded up in the dugout. Across his 11 innings so far, seven have come at number three, three at number four, and one came when he opened. LSG have also experimented with their opening pair on multiple occasions during the season before settling on the current combination.
Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis, who shared a 135-run start, are the most recent opening duo for LSG. Aiden Markram has also opened for them at times. The strategy of leaning on overseas names in the top order was intentional, but it has not consistently delivered results across the campaign—Inglis missed a big chunk of the tournament, while Markram and Pooran struggled to make significant contributions with the bat.
“See, definitely that was the first thought,” Pant said when asked whether LSG tried to solve games during the powerplay by placing overseas players at the top. “Getting two overseas players to open and Nicky (Pooran) batting at three—that was the idea. Sometimes it’s hard when the game plan isn’t carried out in every match the way it’s supposed to be. But at the same time, we take pride, and we’re confident as a team. The only thing I would say is it’s frustrating when you know what you have as a team, but because of little thought-process moments here and there, you can’t implement things the way you want. Things can happen.”
“The only thing that can harm us is having too many thought process.”
