IPL 2026: ‘Is he really an opening batter?’ - Former England star questions LSG captain Rishabh Pant's batting position

Published - 02 Apr 2026, 17:42 IST | Updated - 02 Apr 2026, 17:43 IST

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has questioned Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant’s batting position after LSG’s loss against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their opening fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

To everyone’s surprise, the LSG captain opened the batting for his side along with Mitchell Marsh against his former IPL side. Eventually, Pant was dismissed for seven due to an unfortunate runout.

Pietersen, who is working as a broadcaster for the marquee T20 league, exclaimed that Pant should just enjoy his cricket instead of shuffling his batting position. The wicketkeeper batter was batting in the middle-order last year, whereas Marsh and Aiden Markram formed a formidable opening pair for LSG.

"When you look at the strength and depth of LSG's batting, is Rishabh Pant really an opening batter? I think he might have gone a little too far ahead of where he was in the line-up compared to last year," Pietersen told JioHotstar.

"Last year, he moved down the order, and now suddenly it's, 'I'm going to come up to the top'. I think he just needs to go out and enjoy his cricket," Pietersen further added.

According to the former English batting great, by coming in to bat up the order he is putting pressure on himself and that won’t allow Pant to enjoy his batting a bit more.

"Don't force yourself into batting at (number) three, enjoy the luxury of that position. I think he puts himself under tremendous pressure by opening the batting," Pietersen concluded.

It was a disappointing outing for LSG against DC as they were beaten by the visiting side comprehensively. After scoring mere 140 runs batting first, LSG suffered a six-wicket loss at the hands of Axar Patel’s side, with Sameer Rizvi playing a match winning knock of 70 off 47 balls.