Going into the mega auction of the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League, the wicket-keeper batter of India, Rishabh Pant, was expected to be one of the costliest buys in the bidding war, but not many predicted Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to get the signing done. The new poster boy of Indian cricket went to the franchise for a price of INR 27 crore, the most expensive in the history of the league.
Earlier, LSG got rid of their former captain from the previous three-year cycle, KL Rahul, with whom they had a little bit of a breaking relationship regarding leadership and also the aggressive mindset of the batter with the blade in hand. That put them in a position of going for a big name.
Pant wasn’t expected to be a member of the franchise, but his name was involved in the bidding war between the Sajeev Goenka-owned side, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) till the mark of INR 20.75 crore.
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The Delhi Capitals, who had the luxury of using the Right to Match (RTM) card for the left-handed batter, proposed the price of INR 27 crore for the veteran to the LSG team, who was happy enough to match it and won the player. Having bought him for such a high price in the mega auction, he is expected to lead the franchise, but that’s the decision that the Super Giants management will need to take later on.
LSG is yet to believe in the captaincy skills of Rishabh Pant for IPL 2025
Lucknow enjoyed the first two seasons of their tournament in 2022 and 2023, as they reached the playoffs on both occasions. However, it wasn’t a healthy time in the previous edition for the side, who finished in the seventh position in the points table with the help of seven victories in 14 clashes at the net run rate of -0.667.
Sanjeev Goenka, the LSG owner, in an interview with the Sports Tak at the end of the first day of the auction, was asked if they had Pant in their plans and if they would address it as a good buy.
“This was part of our plan; Rishabh was on our list. We had separately kept Rs 25-27 crore reserved for him. Yes. Had it not been a good buy, we wouldn’t have bought him for Rs 27 crore just to satisfy our ego.” Goenka expressed.
Rishabh, marking his return into competitive cricket in 2024 from the fatal injury, notched up 446 runs in 13 innings at an average of over 40 with a strike rate of 155.40, thanks to three half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 88 runs.
LSG had already retained the former West Indies captain and an explosive batter, Nicholas Pooran, before the auction, besides buying Pant and David Miller.
“I am not a person who does comparisons, but with the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant, and David Miller, yes, it is a very good lineup,” Goenka added.
But the biggest question stands if Pant would lead the franchise for the next season but the veteran claimed that they would declare the news after discussion among themselves while elaborating that their core leadership group will be stronger with the presence of Pooran, Pant, and Miller.
“See, we were clear from the word go. We knew we couldn’t have afforded both Shreyas Iyer and Pant. We would have loved to go after both of them, if we could afford them. And talking about Rishabh Pant, he was fulfilling our requirements, and we had planned to go all out for him.” The LSG owner concluded, remarking that the inclusion of Pant has satisfied them.