Rishabh Pant‘s Rs 27 crore bid by Lucknow Super Giants was the highlight of the IPL 2025 mega auction. When LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka raised the bid to Rs 27 crore – the most for any player in IPL history- every other franchise fell silent. From next season, Indian cricket team star Rishabh Pant would don the LSG jersey. This marked the end of a long journey of Rishabh Pant with Delhi Capitals franchise. DC co-owner Parth Jindal was emotional about Pant leaving.
“After Dada, my favourite cricketer has been Rishabh Pant. In my heart, I am really emotional and sad; I lost my favourite cricketer. He will continue to remain my favourite but very happy with the auction,” Parth Jindal told Revsportz.
“We lost Rishabh the minute we did not retain him. Let us not try and kid ourselves that we were ever going to get him back in the auction. If I did use Right to Match (RTM) at that price, I would have ruined the auction for Delhi Capitals (DC). Rishabh Pant at 18 crore and at 27 crore he is a completely different proposition.”
Jindal also said that he and DC co-owners GMR had a chat with Rishabh Pant before releasing him, but the feedback was not taken as they though it would have been taken.
“I don’t think it is about ownership here. We were very aligned as an ownership group. It was a very collective decision that was taken. We had lot of discussions with Rishabh. There were things we expected of Rishabh that we did not get last season or in previous seasons. We gave him honest feedback on that. We both, JSW and GMR, Kiran (Grandhi) and I, we are onr family, we are united. It was a decision that we took. We gave him feedback. The feedback was not taken as we expected it to be taken. He took an emotional call. He has also grown up in this franchise,” Jindal said.
“He was a young boy when he started. Delhi Daredevils gave him his first opportunity. What transpired is not what I want to get into. We had a long discussion. In the end, Rishabh decided he did not want to stay. Both Kiran and I made all efforts. He decided he wanted to go in a different direction. At the time, I told him ‘Rishabh, it’s okay, I will not go for you in the auction.’ My heart took over in the auction. I tried getting him back but then the price became too high. It was a joint decision we took.”
