Rishabh Pant will play for a long time for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), said owner Sanjiv Goenka after they splurged INR 27 crores to buy the keeper-batter in the recent IPL 2025 mega auction.
Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), has stated unequivocally that he intends to keep Rishabh Pant for at least another decade.
Pant’s tenacity and dedication, as evidenced by his miraculous recovery from a life-threatening accident to reclaim his place in the Indian cricket team, have encouraged Goenka and the LSG management to go all out for him.
According to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka, the explosive left-handed batter, who is only 27 years old, is more than a short-term asset; he is capable of shaping the franchise’s legacy in the Indian Premier League.
I hope Rishabh Pant will be with us till the time he’s 40: Sanjiv Goenka
Buying Rishabh Pant was a wise investment in a player whose fearlessness and leadership abilities have already gained him international acclaim. Goenka stated that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) want Rishabh Pant to finish his IPL career with the organization.
“He (Rishabh Pant) had a fatal accident. Yes. He came out of it and has gone back to form, playing for the country, and now that kind of never-say-die attitude, I think that is something that’s not easy to get, and he’s only 27. So hopefully he’ll be with us till the time he’s 37, 38, 39, or 40,” Sanjiv Goenka told Times Now.
The bidding battle was a spectacle, with LSG and Delhi Capitals (DC) fighting furiously for Pant’s services in Jeddah. When LSG’s bid reached INR 20.75 crore, the Delhi Capitals (DC) used their Right to Match (RTM) option.
However, Goenka refused to back down, raising the stakes by INR 6.25 crore to capture the explosive wicketkeeper-batter for a tantalizing INR 27 crore. This made Rishabh Pant the most expensive player ever to be bought in an IPL auction.
Speaking about this blockbuster move, the LSG owner was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “This was not about one individual player. It was not about egos. Did we want to have the most expensive player? No. At the end of the day, this does not mean very much to the franchise.
It is about somebody who brings dynamism, a never-say-die attitude. The very fact that he recovered from a near-fatal accident and came back to top form shows his resilience and determination. That is the kind of attitude we want. We want people who have an appetite to win and have a track record of winning.”
Sanjiv Goenka wants Rishabh Pant to be with LSG till the end of his career pic.twitter.com/vfdDJMqH2c
— Sandy (@flamboy_pant) November 26, 2024