Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Slyly scouting Punjab Kings, Rishabh Pant said he is worried that he might go to Punjab Kings in the mega auction of IPL 2025. The wicket keeper and batsman made the comment during an interview with Jatin Sapru on Star Sports.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka also sat alongside Rishabh Pant. During the same interview, the Delhi star was also confirmed as the new LSG captain. He replaced his Indian teammate KL Rahul as the new captain of LSG.
Rishabh Pant has played for Delhi Capitals since their inaugural IPL season in 2016. In 2021, he was also named as the captain of the team. Since then, he has led the Delhi Capitals in every season except 2023 when he was sidelined after sustaining severe injuries in a life-threatening car accident.
Also read: ‘Only openers are fixed’: Axar Patel exposes chaos in India’s T20I batting order
Not many expected Rishabh Pant to sign up for the auction, but he ended up doing so after failing to seal a deal with Delhi Capitals. The batsman was expected to earn a lucrative contract in the IPL 2025 mega auction and ended up becoming the most expensive player in IPL history. LSG secured his services for INR 27 million.
Rishabh Pant bowls Punjab Kings:
After being confirmed as LSG captain, Rishabh Pant decided to give Punjab Kings a try, saying he was worried the franchise might leave for him. With Punjab Kings having the biggest purse, the former Delhi Capitals captain was sure that his franchise would go big in the auction.
However, before Pant was auctioned, Punjab Kings signed IPL winning captain Shreyas Iyer for INR 26.75 crore. While Pant did not reveal the reasons behind his apprehension about going to Punjab Kings, his comments made it clear that he does not want to leave the franchise and reunite with his former Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting.
“I only had one worry and that was Punjab,” Rishabh Pant said before breaking into laughter.
“The second highest grosser was Rs 82 crore (Royal Challengers Bengaluru had a purse of Rs 83 crore), while Punjab had Rs 112 crore (Rs 110.5 crore). So initially, when Shreyas went there, I felt that now I could finish goes to LSG,” he added.
he really said that, “ek hi tension tha, punjab” because of the purse they had.
— 𝒑.💌 (@ssnoozefest) January 20, 2025
In the mega auction for Pant, LSG and RCB competed. After RCB was relegated, Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to bid for the India star. The two franchises raised the bid to ₹20.75 crore before SRH dropped out and Pant was sold to LSG.
However, Delhi Capitals decided to use their Right-to-Match (RTM) card in an attempt to buy back their captain. Under the new rules, LSG were given another chance to raise their bid and the Lucknow-based franchise made the winning bid of INR 27 crore. With DC refusing to match the offer, LSG finally secured Pant’s services at a record price.
