Pant is certain to trigger a bidding war in the upcoming mega auction.
On the deadline day (October 31), the franchise decided to retain India all-rounder Axar Patel, star spinner Kuldeep Yadav, South Africa all-rounder Tristan Stubbs and uncapped Indian wicket-keeper batter Abhishek Porel.
Pant is certain to trigger a bidding war in the upcoming mega auction, likely to be held in third week of December.
Besides Pant, two other captains -- Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shreyas Iyer and Lucknow Super Giants' KL Rahul -- will enter the auction pool this time around.
According to a PTI report, Pant was not happy about his powers being curbed by GMR, the co-owners, who will run the show for the next two years. It is also learnt that the southpaw was not pleased with Hemang Badani as head coach and Y Venugopal Rao as Team Director.
In case of Shreyas, he felt that being an IPL-winning captain, he deserved way more than his Rs 12.25 crore existing salary, a belief that was not shared by the KKR bosses. As for Rahul, his approach towards T20 cricket didn't align with the mindset of LSG owners.
All three will definitely fetch big bucks but Rishabh Pant could well emerge as the highest paid player of Indian Premier League.
"Rishabh's real bidding will start from Rs 20 crore onwards. There will be three teams who can afford to bid big for him. One is Punjab Kings with Rs 110.5 crore in its kitty. They need a new captain and a brand. RCB has Rs 83 crore and LSG have Rs 69 crore and they also need a new captain," a top official of a franchise told PTI.
"Gujarat Titans don't need a captain but they also have Rs 69 crore. DC has Rs 73 crore but why would they go for someone, they released under acrimonious circumstances," he added.
While Suresh Raina might have raised hopes of CSK fans about Pant joining their squad but with only INR 55 crore left in the auction purse, it seems highly unlikely for the franchise to secure his services.
The industry insiders expect Rishabh Pant to go for somewhere between INR 25 crore to INR 30 crore in the grand auction.
(With PTI Inputs)