Delhi Capitals (DC) co-owner Parth Jindal has revealed that it was a break down in communication, when Rishabh Pant was given feedback after last season and it was the cricketer who decided to part ways with the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Pant, who made his IPL debut for the Delhi franchise in 2016, captained the side in IPL 2021, 2022 and 2024. There was a huge surprise when DC didn’t include Pant’s name in the list of players they had retained ahead of the auction.
In the IPL 2025 mega auction, Rishabh Pant’s name saw multiple franchises fighting for him and in the end, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) won with a whopping bid of INR 27 Crores, when DC tried to use their RTM card on Pant.
This made Pant the most expensive player ever bought in the IPL auction history, eclipsing Mitchell Starc’s INR 24.75 Cr winning bid by KKR last auction.
Parth Jindal did not mince words when he stated that the Delhi Capitals lost Rishabh Pant since they did not retain him and that purchasing him back at auction would never be conceivable given the bidding battle for the star cricketer.
The Delhi Capitals co-owner claimed that he promised Rishabh Pant that he would not try to purchase him back after they (both sets of owners - GMR and JSW) mutually agreed on the separation in October and that his 'heart took over' when he used the RTM card on the wicketkeeper.
"What transpired is something that I don't want to get into. It was a very long discussion we had. In the end, Rishabh himself decided 'I don't want to stay'. We made, both Kiran and I, all efforts to keep him. But he decided he wanted to go out, go in a different direction. We respected it," Parth Jindal told RevSportz.
"At that time, I also respected it. I said 'Rishabh, I won't go for you in the auction'. But then my heart took over in the auction and I tried getting him back. Kiran was like we will make up later, both of us will make it with him later if we get him. We tried, but then the price became too high. It's nothing to do with ownership. It was a joint decision," he added.
Rishabh Pant spent 9 years at DC since making his debut in IPL 2016. He played 111 matches and scored 3284 runs at a strike rate of 148.39 and the highest score of 128*. He has hit 154 sixes and 396 fours. He also has taken 75 catches and 23 stumpings.
Parth Jindal explained why they split up, claiming Pant did not take input as well as the owning group intended. Parth further stated that both sets of owners, himself and Kiran Grandhi, were on the same page when they chose not to keep Pant before the auction.
"No, I don't think it's about ownership here. We were very aligned as an ownership group. It was a very collective decision that was taken. We had a lot of discussions with Rishabh and there were things that we expected of Rishabh, that we did not get in the last season or the previous season. We gave him honest feedback on that.
We both, Kiran and I.. GMR and JSW, we are one family. We are united. It was a decision we took. We gave him feedback. The feedback was not taken as we expected it to be taken. And yeah, it's okay. He took an emotional call. He has also grown up in this franchise. He was a young boy when he started. Delhi Daredevils gave him the opportunity. Kiran gave him his first opportunity. I came into the franchise later and developed a very strong bond with him," he added.
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