‘Rishabh Pant should bat no 3 and Nicholas Pooran should…’, says star RCB cricketer on LSG captain ahead of IPL 2026

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant is the highest-paid cricketer in the Indian Premier League with a salary of Rs 27 crore.

IPL 2026: Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant will once again carry a massive burden as they begin their journey in the IPL 2026 season against the Delhi Capitals at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on April 1. Pant is currently the highest paid cricketer in the Indian Premier League with salary of Rs 27 crore from Sanjiv Goenka’s LSG.

LSG skipper Pant only managed to score 269 runs in 14 matches in IPL 2025 season – 118 of those runs coming in one match – as Lucknow franchise failed to reach the Playoffs for the second year in a row. Pant only had a modest strike-rate of 133.16 with 1 century and 1 fifty.

“The talent that Rishabh Pant has is tremendous. You look at him playing Test cricket and you think, this guy has all the shots. When I look at his game, I feel he has too many options in his head. He feels like he can hit a six off every ball to any part of the ground. But in T20 batting, you still need a method. You need a game plan for how you go about your business. Look at all the great T20 players.

“You can almost have an idea of where they will score their boundaries and where they have slight weaknesses. They work their way through that. With Pant, I feel he is always on the edge. When you watch him play, you feel he can get out at any time because it is almost frantic at times. The surprising number for me is his T20 strike-rate, which is around 130. How is that possible for a guy with so many shots? Maybe it is because we watch him in Test cricket playing these extravagant, exuberant innings, taking the game on. We almost feel that should just happen in T20 cricket as well,” former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis told JioStar’s ‘IPL Today Live’.

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Du Plessis believes Pant should move up in the batting order in the IPL 2026 season to the number three position by replacing Nicholas Pooran at the spot. The West Indies star was retained for Rs 21 crore by Sanjiv Goenka’s LSG ahead of IPL 2026 season.

“Looking at LSG’s 2026 auction and their strategy around who they signed, you look at that top-heavy batting line-up – Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran are the main ones alongside Pant. Pooran is maybe the only guy who can slide down. But the success Marsh and Markram had at the top of the order for LSG last season is probably something I would expect them to start with again.

“So, maybe there is an opportunity for Pant to bat at number three. The numbers suggest that for him to be the best player he can be, number three looks good. I see him batting at number three for LSG this season with Nicholas Pooran sliding down to number four,” Du Plessis said about Pant’s batting position in IPL 2026.

Rahul Dravid was not happy with Rishabh Pant’s batting approach: Aakash Chopra

Former India opener Aakash Chopra was critical of Rishabh Pant’s batting approach in Test cricket. Chopra said former India head coach Rahul Dravid was also not pleased by Pant’s attitude to batting in Test cricket.

“We sometimes fail to understand what Rishabh Pant brings to the table and how he sees the game unfold. In Test cricket, he had conversations with Rahul Dravid when he was the Head Coach. Rahul bhai was not very happy with Pant’s batting approach. To give credit where it’s due, Pant sees the game very differently from most of us who see it conventionally. But the most heartening thing for me is his acceptance that he needs to change something in his game. He needs to look for a blueprint.

“Something is not going right. He knows he is that good. The fact that he has approached Yuvraj Singh for help shows he acknowledges that he needs guidance, help and assistance. That is a great sign. With the quality, talent and skills he has, it is a travesty that he is not killing it in white-ball cricket,” Aakash Chopra told JioStar.

On the scrutiny that LSG captain Pant faces, Chopra said, “The scrutiny around Rishabh Pant is justified. He is a prisoner of his own reputation for playing unorthodox shots and rarely looks to grind out runs when the situation demands it. Last season, despite opportunities to take time and rebuild his form, he continued to play risky shots, which drew criticism. Having been part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in Barbados, he is now completely out of the conversation for the national side. The selectors and management went from selecting a middle-order keeper to an opener keeper and a keeper who can bat at three. While the IPL is massive, representing India remains the ultimate priority, and losing that spot means it’s time for him to go back to the drawing board.”

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The Times Of Bengal