LSG Face Tricky No.3 Call Between Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant for IPL 2026

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have a big decision to make ahead of IPL 2026, with Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran in contention for the No. 3 spot.

Nicholas Pooran excelled at No. 3 last season

Nicholas Pooran had terrific numbers while batting at No. 3 in IPL 2025. He played 12 matches and scored 466 runs at an average of 46.6, including five half centuries.

At No. 4, he batted in only two innings where he scored 45 and 13. Overall, if we look at his numbers at No. 3 and No. 4, at 3 he has played 18 matches in the IPL and has 573 runs at an average of 38.2, while at 4 he has 557 runs at an average of 30.94.

Along with Mitchell Marsh, who scored more than 600 runs, and Aiden Markram, who scored more than 400, the top order was much more settled and looked formidable.

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Rishabh Pant struggled at No. 4 last season

With Nicholas Pooran batting at No. 3, Rishabh Pant had to bat at No. 4, which resulted in very disappointing numbers by his standards. In nine innings, he scored only 123 runs at an average of 15.37, including just one half century. If we look at his overall IPL numbers at No. 4, he averages 34.68 in 67 matches, scoring 2012 runs.

However, he batted at No. 3 in just two innings last season and scored a century in one of them against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. His overall numbers at this position are also quite good, as he averages 46.5 in 15 matches and has scored 558 runs.

This dip in form was also one of the reasons why Lucknow Super Giants finished seventh in the IPL 2025 points table.

Who Should Bat at No. 3 for LSG in IPL 2026?

Lucknow Super Giants face a tricky call on who should bat at No. 3, but it should be Rishabh Pant ahead of Nicholas Pooran. It is because to get the best out of Pant, he needs to bat in the top order.

We have seen that Pooran can bat in the middle order, which he has done for most of his T20 career, playing more than 300 matches there and scoring more than 6600 runs in the middle order.

This will also help LSG because their openers are in impressive form, and if Pant can also perform well, Lucknow could become an unstoppable force, especially when it comes to batting.

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