Lucknow Super Giants turned to Ayush Badoni at the top of the order against Punjab Kings, a tactical gamble that produced a bright start but did not stop another damaging defeat in IPL 2026. Punjab had already piled up 254 after batting first, leaving LSG chasing a huge target from the moment Badoni walked out as opener.
The move came without any report of an injury to Aiden Markram, and LSG management along with captain Rishabh Pant described the change as tactical. It may also have been meant to keep Markram away from Arshdeep Singh. Instead of opening, Markram was pushed down and bowled one over, only to be struck for 32 runs by the Punjab batters.
Badoni’s promotion was unusual. Before this match, he had opened only once in the IPL, against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2023, when he made 4 runs off 11 balls. On this night he looked far more settled, racing to 35 runs off 21 balls in the powerplay before Vijaykumar Vyshak removed him.
The larger picture for Lucknow was grim. They were sitting 8th in the IPL 2026 points table and needed results fast, but their batting order continued to shift as Pant and the team tried to find a combination that worked. Pant had opened in LSG’s first match of the season before dropping himself after one failure, and from the next game Marsh and Markram became the opening pair.
That is what makes the Badoni call stand out. LSG have mostly used him in the middle order, yet in a must-respond phase of the season they sent him out first, asked him to attack early, and then watched him do exactly that while the match still slipped away. The innings gave the team a usable idea for the future, but it also underlined how little room they have left for experimentation if the slide continues.
