The IPL 2025 mega auction is complete, and Rishabh Pant has become the most expensive player in the tournament’s history. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bought him for an incredible ₹27 crores. Rishabh’s former team, Delhi Capitals (DC), tried to make a last-minute move by using the right-to-match card. However, Lucknow became Rishabh’s new team.
Delhi Capitals’ co-owner and JSW Sports Director, Parth Jindal, had a candid chat with RevSportz’s Editor-in-Chief, Boria Majumdar on the whole Pant saga. He shared details about the Rishabh Pant exit and explained why they still bid for him at the auction.
Excerpts:
Boria: Your first thoughts on the whole Rishabh Pant thing?
Parth: In my heart, I am very emotional and sad that I lost my favourite cricketer. After Dada (Sourav Ganguly), my favourite cricketer has been Rishabh Pant and he will continue to remain my favourite cricketer. But in my heart, I feel very sad that I lost him, but very happy with the auction.
Boria: I know Rishabh Pant and you share a great bond. Can you tell me a little bit more about that message you posted today on X on Pant?
Parth: I think we lost Rishabh the minute we did not retain him. Let us all be very honest about that. And if I did do the right to match at that price, I would have ruined the auction for Delhi Capitals. At 18 crores, Rishabh Pant is a totally different proposition. At 27 crores, he is a totally different proposition. So let me not fool myself or fool anybody. We lost Rishabh when we could not retain him.
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“We lost Rishabh the day we failed to retain him” –@ParthJindal11 on what happened to #RishabhPant and #DelhiCapitals saga! @ShrachiSports @DelhiCapitals @IPL #IPLAuction #IPLauctions2025 #IPL2025 #IPLRetention2025 pic.twitter.com/KJ9fcW635u
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) November 26, 2024
Boria: Had it been single ownership, would you have retained Rishabh Pant?
Parth: No, I do not think it is about ownership here. I think we were very aligned as an ownership group. It was a collective decision that was taken. We had a lot of discussions with Rishabh. There were things that we expected of Rishabh that we did not get last season or in the previous seasons and we gave him honest feedback on that.
We both, GMR, JSW, we are one family. We are one, we are united and it was a decision we took. We gave him feedback. Feedback was not taken as we expected it to be taken. He took an emotional call. He has also grown up in this franchise and he was a young boy when he started.
To Rishabh @RishabhPant17 you are and will always remain my younger brother – from the bottom of my heart I love you and I have tried everything to make sure you are happy and have treated you like my family. I am very sad to see you go and I am very emotional about it. You will…
— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) November 26, 2024
Delhi Daredevils gave him his first opportunity and Kiran gave him his first opportunity. And I obviously came into the franchise later and developed a very strong bond with him. But what transpired is something that I do not want to get into because it was a very protracted, long discussion we had. At the end, Rishabh himself decided that I do not want to stay. We made all efforts. Both Kiran and I made all efforts to keep him. But he decided that he wanted to go in a different direction, which we respected.
At that time, I also respected it. I said, Rishabh, it is okay, I would not go for you in the auction. But then my heart wanted him back in the auction and I tried getting him back. Kiran also was like, it is OK. We will make up later. Both of us will make up with him after the auction if we get him, we will figure it out. So, we tried, but then the price became too high. So, it was nothing to do with ownership. It was a joint decision that we took.
Also Read: Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc – Delhi Capitals’ Strategic picks at the Mega Auction