London, December 12, 2024 (Navroze Bureau) – Star Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was not retained by Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, but the franchise did try to sign him back in the mega auction, which was held across two days (November 24 and 25) in Jeddah. After LSG sealed a deal for Pant for Rs 20.75 crore after an intense bidding war with Sunrisers Hyderabad, DC tried to use the Right To Match (RTM) card for the left-handed wicketkeeper-batter, who made his IPL debut for the franchise in 2016.
LSG was asked to place its final bid for Pant, and the Lucknow-based franchise’s owner, Sanjiv Goenka, quoted an amount of Rs 27 crore. DC declined to match the offer, after which Pant joined LSG in a record deal. By securing an IPL deal worth Rs 27 crore on November 24, Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the cash-rich league.
During his recent appearance on The TRS Show, Goenka has now revealed the reason for quoting an amount of Rs 27 crore for securing the services of Pant. According to him, DC co-owner Parth Jindal is crazy for Pant, and he was sure that Jindal will try to sign Pant back, which is why he quoted Rs 50 lakh more than the amount DC fought with Punjab Kings for the signature of Shreyas Iyer.
“There was science behind going at 27 crore for Rishabh Pant. Delhi went for 26.5 crore for Shreyas Iyer. So, then my feeling was, ‘Parth Jindal is so crazy for Rishabh Pant, he would go one up at the IPL Auction.’ So, the idea was to go two up from Parth, or even three up, and that is where he would stop. For Rishabh, we had calculated three scenarios, and in all of them, he was very important to us,” Goenka said.
“We knew we were going to get him, and we had kept between 25 and 27 crores for him in all our planning. So, when the bidding stopped for Rishabh at 21-22 crore, DC did not waste even a second to use RTM for him. So that means they were willing to go to the full extent that we have to take Rishabh,” he added.
According to Goenka, the main reason for buying Pant in the mega auction was to get an Indian anchor around whom the entire team can be built.
“However, whatever the circumstances were, they did not retain him, or Rishabh was not willing to be retained. It is not right for me to discuss that or comment on it, but they were keen. If you look at Parth’s reaction, it is more like the deal is done. Looking at all this, we thought 27 crore was a safe bid. Had Rishabh not come to us, LSG would have missed an Indian anchor around whom the entire team is built.”