Can a move to opening during LSG stint revive Rishabh Pant's T20I career?

Star wicketkeeperbatter Rishabh Pant will be kickstarting a new phase of his Indian Premier League IPL career as he captains a whole new team Lucknow Super Giants LSG in the upcoming season with the pressure of being the most expensive player at Rs 27 crore looming large on his headPant has represented Delhi Capitals DC for his entire IPL career since 2016 scoring 3284 runs in 110 matches at an average of 3531 with a century and 18 fifties He was appointed as the teams captain in 2021 and led them to playoffs in the same season He was let go by the franchise in 2024 ahead of the mega auction and became the leagues most expensive player ever at Rs 27 crore bought by LSG who later appointed him as a captain tooThis new era could help him revive his T20I career with India having last played the format in July last year For someone who rose to fame with his wide range of unorthodox and audacious strokes and explosive knocks in the ICC Under19 World Cup 2016 and the IPL 2017 and 2018 Pant has not been able to perform as per the gigantic expectations and hype in T20Is scoring at an average of 23 striking well below 130 and having just three fifties after 75 matches sitting out of the Indian side with Sanju Samson being the firstchoice wicketkeeperbatter in the shortest format With many promising youngsters emerging in Team India which has mastered the T20 art as of late Pant has a lot to do within less time to reestablish himself in T20I setupThe biggest decision that could help him with this is Where Pant play for LSG A team that is blessed with a powerpacked batch of overseas batters Aiden Markram Mitchell Marsh Nicholas Pooran and David Miller Adding Pant and Ayush Badoni to this LSGs top six looks absolutely onpoint But the issue is none of them is a specialist openerAmong the six Pooran 94 innings and Marsh 85 innings have had batted in the top three the most with Markram 39 innings and Pant 21 have opened the batting on most occasionswith others opening in the only singledigit worth of matches Markram has opened only once in last four years while Pant has opened only five times in last six years as per WisdenTwo potential best openers and the best middleorder from threetosix has to be picked up from these worldclass battersIt would be tempting for LSG to rotate Pant Pooran Miller and Badoni between threesix spots but having three backtoback openers and the consequent onedimensional thinking is something no team would like in these unpredictable days of T20 cricket where rightleft combinations are gaining popularityPooran has established himself as one of the most destructive middleorder batters in T20 cricket no one has scored runs at a higher strike rate of 17598 than him since IPL 2023 not even equally celebrated stars like Suryakumar Yadav and Heinrich Klaasen Millers dependency as a finisher is at an alltime high which takes these two out of the discussion for opening and places them at numbers fourfive or fivesix or foursix with Badoni to break the lefthanded patternAmong the other three Markram and Mitchell Marsh Pant has the best numbers as an opener in T20s While Pant averages 322 and strikes at 1622 as an opener Markram averages 279 and strikes at 1289 while Marsh averages 188 and strikes at 1471While Pant has opened only on 21 occasions in his career his average is almost the same to 33 at number three and four and 31 at number five Also his strike rate at the opening is much higher than numbers three to five 149 143 and 141 respectivelyAs an opener Pant has hit a boundary every 39 balls which increases to 47 52 and 56 balls at number three four and fiveAlso the last time India tried Pant as a T20I opener was in 2022 and the returns were mixed with scores of 26 1 27 6 11 But every time he scored above 10 or even 20 his strike rate was above 170 His batting average as an opener for India is 1420 and his strike rate is 13650 way higher than his career SR of over 127After 2022 he did not open in any level of T20 cricket but played at number three in the T20 World Cup to capitalise on field restrictions during the powerplay and add a lefthanded at the top three He could do the same for LSG He performed his job well in T20 WC scoring 171 runs in eight innings striking at 12761 in a highly bowlingfriendly tournament The opening would also be in sync with Pants aggressive playing style which could yield him more runs when fielding restrictions are in placeIn the IPL he has batted at number three in 13 innings scoring 433 runs at an average of 3936 and striking at above 169LSG could have either Marsh or Markram open alongside him with Markram a better spin basher and Marsh offering more brutality and powerPant is open to opening as well but there is no role clarity yet In January after his appointment as LSG captain Pant said as quoted by Wisden Obviously there is a temptation to go that way open the innings but there is no 100 per cent clarity that should I open or stay in the middle orderBecause when you have played in the middle order for so many years and have done well God has been kind so you get used to it So I do not want to make rash decisions like let us do it because the external noise is suggesting this he addedFor me this is my life it is my career and this is something I live for and I do not want to change that overnight I want to think over it a bit more discuss it further with Zak bhai Zaheer Khan LSG mentor and Justin Langer LSG head coach about what we can do and eventually we will back whatever decision we take he concludedWith ANI inputs