All the speculation around who would bat at No. 3 for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2026 lasted only until the third over of their match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, as captain Rishabh Pant sprang a surprise.
For just the second time in his IPL career, Pant walked out to open the batting for Lucknow, a move that instantly grabbed attention given his established role in the middle order. The decision hinted at a tactical tweak from the team management, possibly aimed at maximising the left-right combination at the top. However, the bold call ended in sheer misfortune following a freak twist of fate.
It happened on the final ball of the second over when Mitchell Marsh punched a fuller delivery from Mukesh Kumar straight back down the pitch. The ball was airborne, briefly raising hopes of a caught-and-bowled dismissal. But in a “horrible” turn of events, as commentator Kevin Pietersen described, the ball brushed Mukesh’s outstretched right hand, took a sharp deflection, and crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, with Pant stranded well outside his crease.
LSG vs DC LIVE Score, IPL 2026
“Very, very unlucky,” remarked Murali Kartik on air, as Pant could only walk back with a wry smile, fully aware of the bizarre nature of his dismissal. The LSG skipper managed just 7 off 9 balls.
Pant as opener in T20s?
Interestingly, Pant, primarily a middle-order batter, has opened in T20 cricket before. Across 205 innings in his career, he has opened 23 times, scoring 672 runs at a strike rate of 159, including one century and five fifties.
While many of those opportunities came early in his career, he also opened for India during the 2022 series against England. Three years later, he revisited the role in IPL 2025 on a solitary occasion against the Gujarat Titans in Lucknow, where he scored 21 off 18 balls.
The move on Wednesday pushed Aiden Markram, who opened for Lucknow last season, down to No. 3. Whether LSG persist with this strategy remains to be seen, but the experiment underlined the team’s willingness to explore flexible batting combinations.
