Former Indian Test batter Robin Uthappa has urged Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant to open the innings in IPL 2026. Pant didn’t have a great run in IPL 2025, scoring 269 runs in 14 matches at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 133.16 after he was bought for a whopping amount of INR 27 crore in the mega auction.
While Pant has a fantastic Test record, he is yet to prove his mettle in the white-ball formats for India. Pant has amassed 3553 runs in 125 IPL matches at an average of 34.16 and a strike rate of 147.62 and thus has a good record in the lucrative tournament.
“I am very patient personally with Pant. I still believe that because of that accident, we have not seen the best or maximum of Pant. I feel he is getting there and is building himself. I believe that if he opens or plays at three, we will see the best of him soon. I was very happy when he was playing at three in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He is such a batter who should get more balls in T20 cricket. He should be given the freedom of the powerplay. I was so frustrated that he was the captain of LSG and batting at five. If this reaches to him, bro please open, you will shake Indian T20 cricket. He even scored that hundred at number three last year,” Robin Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.
Uthappa said Pant can make most of the field restrictions while opening the innings for LSG.
“He must open. He will have the field open, and once he is set, no one can stop him. Why do you want to put yourself in a tough position? Maximise your potential. Once he is set, the field will not matter to him. Nothing will matter. He will smash it,” Robin Uthappa added.
The former T20 World Cup winner said Sanju Samson should also open the innings for Chennai Super Kings and as well as the Indian team in the upcoming World Cup.
“Even if Samson plays at three in the IPL, I will be very angry. No one can give better starts than him and Abhishek at the moment. I am keeping Rohit and Virat aside. I think the starts and the presence, no one can do it better than Sanju and Abhishek. Maybe he can open with Ayush or whoever, but he also has to open. He brings that intimidation factor. He is also such a player who will not get out if he plays 10-15 balls at the start,” he said.
India will take on New Zealand in three ODIs and five T20Is.
