A recent twist in the ongoing Indian Premier League season came when Rishabh Pant, the Captain of Delhi Capitals, has expressed an interest to take part in a mega auction. Until now, it has been confirmed that Pant has been a part of the Delhi franchise for his whole career. He is now, however, dispensed with as the captain of the franchise. Also, as far as the backroom staff is concerned, there has been a sea change in DC especially with the exit of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly. Some sweeping modifications are expected in the playing unit as well.
In what is being perceived as the hierarchy of truth, Rishabh Pant is inclined towards participating in the mega auction. IN THE FRANCHISES WHO YAWN AT HIM, THE NAME OF ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE SITS AT THE ABSOLUTE TOP. The likes of Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings are also reported to be scouting for a match winner in the captain in order to obtain Pant.
Last week, Parth Jindal, the Delhi Capitals co-owner, revealed some of the players the franchise intends to keep before the start of the 2025 season. Therefore this latter assertion is difficult to reconcile with that made by Jindal with regards to this issue earlier in the month.
“Retain? Yes, we certainly have to retain. We have some pretty good players in our squad. The regulations have only just come out, so after consultations with GMR and our director of cricket Sourav Ganguly, our decision will be taken,” heard Parth Jindal recently in an interview with IANS.
“Rishabh Pant will definitely be retained. We have also Axar Patel who is brilliant, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, all of whom are very good players in our set,” he had further stated in that connection.
In the recent news, Delhi Capitals, which is co-owned by JSW and GMR, announced the appointment of Hemang Badani as the head coach (IPL) and Venugopal Rao as the director of cricket (IPL) a few days back.
Franchises are likely to submit their retention list by the end of this month.
