'I Request You with Folded Hands': R Ashwin Speaks Out After Pant’s Poor Start in IPL 2026

Ravichandran Ashwin made a stern appeal to Rishabh Pant following his IPL 2026 debut match, where the former Indian spinner urged Pant to retain his opening position for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) despite a disappointing outing against Delhi Capitals (DC).

Pant was batting at the top of the order for LSG in their season opener and could only manage 7 runs off 9 balls. Unlucky Run out after the ball hit Mukesh Kumar's fingers and dislodged the bails at the non-striker's end, pant said after the match that his chances of opening again are "50-50". However, Ashwin felt otherwise and clearly expressed his support for Pant to continue batting at the top.

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said:

"It was very unfortunate the way Rishabh Pant got out, and even more unfortunate the way he talked after the match. He was asked whether he would open the innings, and he replied 50-50. I request you with folded hands, please open in every match. Justin Langer, or whoever is there in the LSG team management, should go and tell Rishabh Pant to go out there and play freely in the powerplay. Go and play the entire 14 games as an opener."

Pant has played five T20 matches as an opener till now, scoring 71 runs at a batting average of 14.20 and an impressive strike rate of 136.53.

Mixed reactions and stats for SRH match

The shift in Pant's batting order has also elicited varied opinions from former cricketers, with Kevin Pietersen urging him to "go out and enjoy" his batting and avoid taking too much pressure, stating it might have been "too soon" for him to move up the order.

Meanwhile, the rest of LSG's batting line-up also struggled in the match against DC. Aiden Markram made just 11 runs off 8 balls before he was sent packing by Axar Patel. Ayush Badoni, who was promoted up the order, was dismissed for a duck in just 3 balls by T Natarajan.Nicholas Pooran also failed to score, and fell to Lungi Ngidi.

Despite the team's poor show, Pant has a brilliant record against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), LSG's next opponent, and has scored 558 runs off 18 innings at a stunning average of 39.85 and strike rate of 144.18, including an unbeaten 128. He is also the sixth-highest run-scorer in the IPL history against SRH and could rise in the standings.

LSG will face SRH on 5 April in their bid to recover from their opening loss. It remains to be seen if Pant will bat at the top of the order again and how he will react after his initial setback.