Rishabh Pant was the most expensive buy in the IPL 2025 mega auction recently when Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) splurged INR 27 Crores for his services. Thus, Rishabh Pant broke Mitchell Starc’s record of INR 24.75 Cr price tag and became the most expensive player ever bought in an IPL auction.
Pant had severed ties with Delhi Capitals, for whom he had made his IPL debut in 2016. DC co-owner Parth Jindal had revealed that Pant didn’t respond well to feedback on his captaincy and hence they parted ways amicably before the auction.
In the auction, DC tried to use their RTM card for Rishabh Pant at INR 20 Cr bid by LSG, by the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise raised the bid to INR 27 Crs and got Rishabh Pant.
Sanjiv Goenka revealed why LSG splurged this much money on Rishabh Pant in the auction and he revealed that he liked the keeper-batter’s game involvement and tactics. Goenka stated that he loved Pant's theatrics and wanted someone with color, ideas, and the ability to make things happen.
"I saw a video of Rishabh where he did dramebaazi (acting) on the field. He slowed the momentum. I liked that attitude a lot, that you had that extra thought to change the momentum when everything was going against us by removing the pads. From that time, I had in my mind that if only Rishabh had been in my team.
That one thing of his appealed to me a lot. Along with that, he came back from a near-fatal injury, and he has come back to a form that is better than his original form. So resilience and ability to fight and rise again matter a lot. Rishabh is 27. So I hope he will be with LSG for the next 10-12 years,” Goenka told Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
With KL Rahul gone, LSG will also have to appoint a new captain for the IPL 2025 season and Goenka offered a fresh twist into the tale when he termed Pant and three other players- Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, and Aiden Markram as 'leaders of the team'.
His stance on LSG's captaincy reveal hasn't budged since last week, as he promises to 'announce it soon', but the mentions of Markram (bought for ₹2 crores), Marsh ( ₹3.4crorese) and Pooran (retained for ₹2croresre) are certain to add layers to the public curiosity before the big reveal.
"Our internal feeling is that our auction was excellent. Our focus was that our middle order and finishing should be extremely strong. Our No. 3 to No. 8 is very strong. Our second wish was to go with a completely Indian-pace attack instead of an international pace, and explosive international batters. Now we have got a combination of the two.
We have four leaders in our team - Rishabh, Pooran, Markram, and Mitch Marsh. So it becomes a very strong leadership pool of intellect and thought, and strategy. They are all people who can go with the mindset to win. Rishabh has the hunger and passion to win. So a good team has been built. We are happy. Overall, the balance is also okay and no team is 10 on 10,” Goenka added.
LSG made the playoffs in IPL 2022 and 2023 but faltered in the IPL 2024 season, leading to a major overhaul in the team composition.
