The dilemma over where Rishabh Pant will bat in IPL 2026 has been a talk of the town for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), heading to their season opener against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Wednesday. (IPL 2026 Updated Points Table)
Rishabh Pant often batted at the No.4 position in IPL 2025, and even batted at No.7 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Lucknow, where he faced just two balls.
However, in LSG's final match of the IPL 2025 season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the Uttarakhand-born cricketer played at the No.3 batting spot and scored a century, slamming 118 runs from 61 balls.
Justin Langer avoids revealing Rishabh Pant's batting position
Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, there was a report which said that the 28-year-old would take the No.3 spot permanently. But, LSG head coach Justin Lunger avoided revealing Pant's possible batting position.
"I'm not telling you. Well, the truth is, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you where Rishabh Pant's gonna bat tomorrow," Langer said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
"I appreciate you asking, but if you want a straight answer, I'm not telling you where he's gonna bat tomorrow because then DC knows where he's gonna bat, and then they'll have to deal with it tonight, not tomorrow at 7:30.
Thanks for asking, though, you'll wait and see like everyone else," added the former Australia opener.
Pant had become the most expensive player in IPL history when Lucknow Super Giants signed him up at the IPL 2025 mega auction. However, the southpaw has largely failed to make an impact with LSG as a batter, and he aggregated just 269 runs from 14 matches at a strike-rate of 133.16.
Overall, Pant has accumulated 3553 runs from 125 matches in the IPL, at an average of 34.16 and a strike-rate of 147.61. He has scored 19 half-centuries and two centuries.
Lucknow Super Giants failed to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs after they finished in seventh place with 12 points from 14 matches. LSG have never reached the final of the IPL, having reached the playoffs in 2022 and 2023.
