After being appointed captain of the Lucknow Super Giants, star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has revealed that he didn’t want to join Punjab Kings (PBKS). Pant, who released by the Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction, became the costliest ever buy in the history of the tournament as he was bought by LSG for Rs 27 crore. Pant broke the record of Shreyas Iyer, who was sold PBKS for Rs 26.75 crore earlier in the day. Pant highlighted that since PBKS had a purse of Rs 110 crore, he was relieved to see Iyer going in the other way.
“From inside, I had only one tension. That was Punjab. Their budget was so high that if you wanted, you could not do anything. They had 112 crore, the second highest was Rs. 82 crore. When Shreyas joined Punjab, I was relieved that I can join LSG now,” Pant said in a interaction on Star Sports.”
For Pant, there was a bidding war between LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), with the latter giving up. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) entered the bidding war, trying to bolster their explosive batting attack and Delhi Capitals (DC) tried to use the ‘Right To Match’ card, but they could not match the value LSG put for Pant, breaking the bank for him and going beyond Iyer’s value.
The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter is an all-format for India and a livewire on the field. Having proven himself as a man for big stages in Test cricket, Pant’s T20 game is just as solid. Though he has scored 1,209 runs in 76 T20Is at an underwhelming average of 23.25, a strike rate of almost 128 and just three fifties, his overall T20 numbers are way better, having made 5,022 runs in 202 matches at an average of 31.78, a strike rate of over 145, with two centuries and 25 fifties.
Pant represented Delhi Capitals (DC) for his entire IPL career since 2016, scoring 3,284 runs in 110 matches at an average of 35.31, with a century and 18 fifties. He was appointed as the team’s captain in 2021 and led them to playoffs in the same season.
(With ANI Inputs)
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