Rishabh Pant did not come out to bat even when Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lost three wickets in the chase against Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow. Pant explained after the game the decision was taken in order to give game time to batters who haven’t had much of it in IPL 2026.

At 135 for 0 in the 12th over, LSG had whittled away much of the 188-run chase. But they lost three wickets in the space of nine runs. Nicholas Pooran came in at No. 3 and was followed by Abdul Samad and Mukul Choudhary as LSG won with seven wickets to spare.

“See, I was ready to bat and the idea came up,” Pant said at the post-match presentation. “I was in the dressing room. The idea came in: why not try players who have not played much, they haven’t got much chances, and that was the idea. I was thinking again and again, should I do it or not, because I still wanted to be out there in the field. But you know, sometimes you have to respect some things for the think tank.”

Pant has not batted lower than No. 4 this IPL and was seen padded up in the dugout even as LSG lost wickets. Out of his 11 innings so far, seven have come at No. 3, three at No. 4 and one while opening. LSG also changed their opening combinations a number times this season before settling down on the current pair.

Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis, who put on 135 at the top, are their latest opening combination. Aiden Markram has opened for them as well. Filling the top order with overseas players was done by design. However, it did not work consistently this season as Inglis missed a large part of the tournament while Markram and Pooran were not among the runs.

“See, definitely that was the first thought,” Pant said when asked if they top-loaded with overseas players to crack games in the powerplay. “That getting two overseas players to open the innings and Nicky (Pooran) batting at three. That was the idea. Sometimes it’s difficult when thought process is not being implemented all the time. But at the same time, we take pride, and we are confident as a team. The only thing I would say is it’s frustrating when you know what you have as a team, [but] just because of little thought process here and there and you can’t implement things the way you want. Things can happen.

“The only thing that can harm us is having too many thought process.”

It’s not the first time Pant brought up the topic of the number of voices in the LSG dressing room. After their loss to KKR in the Super Over earlier in the season too, Pant had said “too many minds doesn’t make it easy on the ground,” when he was asked about certain decisions he took during the game.

LSG have a big support staff comprising Tom Moody (director of cricket), Justin Langer (head coach), Kane Williamson (strategic advisor), Bharat Arun (fast bowling coach), Lance Klusener (assistant coach), Ryan Cook (assistant coach), and Carl Crowe (spin bowling coach).