Rishabh Pant hinted at things weren’t good between him and then head coach Ricky Ponting at Delhi Capitals when the newly-appointed Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain claimed that he feared not to be picked by Punjab Kings during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. Rishabh Pant was announced as LSG captain on Monday.
Both Rishabh Pant and Ricky Ponting had worked at the Delhi Capitals for several years in the IPL. However, to everyone’s surprise the franchise, whom Rishabh Pant was a part of since 2016, released the wicketkeeper-batter ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction.
Ahead of the auction, speculations were rife that Rishabh Pant could land at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Punjab Kings. Rishabh Pant’s CSK connection came after the southpaw met legendary MS Dhoni ahead of the auction. Notably, MS Dhoni led CSK to five IPL titles.
As far as the Punjab Kings connection was pertained, it came from the fact that the 27-year-old could reunite with the former Australian captain. However, Rishabh Pant’s revelation on Monday, turned the whole theory completely in another direction.
During a Star Sports show, where Rishabh Pant was revealed as LSG captain, the cricketer admitted that his biggest and only fear was that he could land at Punjab Kings.
“I only had one tension, that was Punjab (laughs),” Rishabh Pant said. “They had the highest purse. When Shreyas went to Punjab, I felt I could make it to LSG. There was a possibility. But eventually, with auction you never know, so I just thought I would wait and watch, and had my fingers crossed,” he added.
Rishabh Pant – IPL’s costliest buy
With Shreyas Iyer going to Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore, LSG roped in the talented Rishabh Pant for ₹27 crore, thus making him the costliest player in the history of Indian Premier League. Rishabh Pant’s comments clearly hinted that he didn’t want to go to Punjab Kings.
Rishabh Pant joined Delhi Capitals in 2016, and had been with the franchise till IPL 2024. The Delhi-based franchise bought Rishabh Pant in 2016 for ₹1.9 crore and was retained in 2018 and 2022. He led Delhi Capitals since 2021, replacing Shreyas Iyer at the top.
In IPL 2024, Rishabh Pant led Delhi Capitals to a six-place finish and scored 446 runs in 14 matches.
