Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant remained coy, refraining from giving a firm reply when asked whether he would open for his team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The contest started with Pant winning the coin toss and opting to bowl at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Pant, who batted at No.4 in the IPL 2025 season, shocked one and all after he came out to open alongside Mitchell Marsh in the previous fixture against the Delhi Capitals.
The move didn’t come off as Pant managed just 7 runs before walking back to the hut. His unfortunate run-out at the non-striker’s end concluded his innings. After the team lost to the Capitals, Pant was asked whether he would continue to open the batting for the rest of IPL 2026. To this, he said, “I think it’s a 50-50 call, but we’ll see. But you will definitely see me in the top order.”
The wicketkeeper-batter sang the same tune when he was asked the “opening” question during the toss ahead of the fixture against SRH. When asked whether he would open later in the game, Pant said, “We’ll see.”
The move of Pant replacing Markram as an opener raised a few eyebrows, as the partnership between Marsh and Markram set the stage on fire. With Pant opening, Nicholas Pooran also had to leave his No.3 spot and was demoted to the No.5 position.
Coming back to the match against SRH, Pant said he decided to bowl first because batting is the Sunrisers’ strength, and he wanted to put them under pressure later in the game.
“We’ll bowl first. The wicket is good, let them bat first, and we will put them under pressure in the second innings. It’s not a new challenge, but this team can hurt us. Looks like a good wicket for sure, but there’s something in it, the ball might stick after the first 6 overs,” said Pant at the toss.
Pant’s underwhelming IPL 2025 season
Batting in the middle order, Pant had an IPL season to forget last year. His numbers would have looked abysmal had he not scored a century in LSG’s last group-stage fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
The left-hander struggled to have any sort of impact on the game, and his downward spiral was the main reason behind the franchise not making the playoffs.
The IPL 2026 season holds significant importance for Pant as he currently finds himself out of favour when it comes to India’s T20I team. A solid 500-600 run season would once again throw him into the mix as far as selection for the Indian team is concerned.
