Shashwat Goenka, son of Sanjiv Goenka at LSG, said, “To bring in Rishabh Pant for such a huge amount of fines, making sure their pay is something Delhi Capitals can’t use their Right to Match card for retention”. The keeper batter from India has now made history as the most expensive player in Indian Premier League (IPL) history by being purchased for a whopping Rs 27 crores by Lucknow Super Giants during the ongoing mega Indian Premier League (IPL) auction held this Sunday at Jeddah.
After a successful purchase, Shashwat said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, “No matter how you plan, it doesn’t always work out like that. This (getting Pant for 27 crore) was very well to our plan. It was not really a magic number, there was just a need for a number such that RTM does not get exercised.”
Sanjiv Goenka opened up over the acquisition of Pant as well. He said,” Well, this was part of our plan. Rishabh was there on the list, we had kept Rs crore for him. 27 was slightly up. But, we are very happy to have him. He is an outstanding player, a match-winner. Fans should be very very happy to have him part of LSG”.
Pant pipped his compatriot Shreyas Iyer, who had just by then become the most expensive player in the league’s history, going to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 26.75 crores a few minutes back. He had also eclipsed Australia’s Mitchell Starc, who returned to IPL after years, with a record bid of Rs 24.75 crores.
Initially, it was a tussle between LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), latter bowing out. Then Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) joined the bidding war looking to their even more explosive batting lineup, while Delhi Capitals (DC) tried with the RTM but certainly could not match the value with LSG.
With this, now LSG have gotten a prestigious top-order batter, wicketkeeper, and captaincy option in Pant.
Define this swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter, who plays all formats for India, and rallies well on the field. In Test cricket, he has proved himself a big-time man; in T20, he is as good. The 1,209 runs at 23.25 and a strike rate of almost 128 by him are not too eye-catching, as are the 76 T20Is scored with three fifties. The number of runs in T20s for him is much higher, as he has 5,022 in 202 matches at the average of 31.78 and a strike rate of over 145, with two hundreds and 25 fifties to add.
Pant, a whole life in the IPL with Delhi Capitals (DC), is 3,284 runs in 110 matches at an average of 35.31, one century and 18 half-centuries. The captaincy of the team was appointed in the year 2021, and he has taken them into the playoffs in that same season.
The most exciting days in this year’s cricketing calendar will culminate on Sunday and Monday when the Indian Premier League (IPL) will host its mega auction 2025. Several international stars lined up to enter the auction were expected to be record-breaking and had the possibility of some surprising crossovers.
The final shortlist of 574 players out of the original list of 1,574 will be auctioned in Jeddah on November 24 – 25. Included in this list are 208 overseas players, 12 uncapped overseas talents, and 318 uncapped Indian players.
