How Arshin Kulkarni can help LSG & Pant by playing as opener

Arshin Kulkarni could be the solution to LSG’s opening woes in IPL 2025 and Rishabh Pant’s inexperience of playing as opener in IPL

Lucknow Super Giants have a blessing in disguise in the form of Arshin Kulkarni. The Maharashtra star can not only contribute to the injury-stricken pace attack but can also open the innings for the team. The all-rounder, if allowed play in the top-order, can ease things for Rishabh Pant who would otherwise be playing at a position where he has never done so before in IPL.

Why Arshin Kulkarni should open for LSG

Arshin has been a regular opener for Maharashtra in the domestic circuit since making his debut in 2023. In fact, he had a decent run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Although he was not on the list of top ten run scorers in both tournaments, he showed promising signs of giving his side a good start while batting at the top.

He managed to score a century on his VHT debut, smashing 107 in 137 deliveries, that included 14 fours. In the very next game, he came close to another ton before being dismissed for 90 runs. Prior to that, in SMAT, he scored 194 runs in 6 matches, at an average of 32, and a strike-rate of 137.

Format	Mat	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s
FC	4	202	87	28.85	54.01	0	2	20	1
List A	2	197	107	98.50	82.77	1	1	22	1
T20s	14	324	62	24.92	145.29	0	1	33	15

Arshin Kulkarni stats

Meanwhile, Pant has played at the top of the order in the U19 World Cup in 2016, the same tournament after which he shot to fame. He amassed 267 runs from 5 matches, including a century and half-century.