Which team has bought Rishabh Pant and for how much money in IPL 2025 auction?
Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in IPL history, fetching a whopping ₹27 crore from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2025 auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday. He beat Punjab Kings' contract of ₹26.75 crore for Shreyas Iyer, only after a few minutes.
LSG were in for Pant from the start and made the first bid for the wicketkeeper-batter. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) took the price to ₹11 crore when SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) chimed in.
The bidding war between LSG and SRH raised the price to ₹20.75 crore when the latter pulled out. But before LSG could celebrate, Delhi Capitals (DC), Pant's old franchise used their Right To Match (RTM) card.
However, according to the new rules, the team that wins the bid gets another chance to put their price, and then the RTMing franchise can either match the increased price or let the player go. LSG raised the bid straight to ₹27 crore, which DC, didn't match.
Pant will now play alongside the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Mohsin Khan, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan and David Miller, among others at LSG. The Sanjeev Goenka-led franchise might now be tempted to make him the captain, though they have a lot of time to make that decision.
"He's a team man" - Sanjeev Goenka on Rishabh Pant
Speaking to the broadcasters, LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka said he knew DC won't match a bid as high as ₹27 crore, adding that he was very happy to have got a "team man" like Pant.
“I knew DC wouldn’t pay more than 26.75 crores for Pant. That’s why I paid 27 crores," Goenka said."We (LSG) will announce the captain very soon. But, we will have a leadership group. It will be Rishabh, Nikki and David Miller."
"Well this was part of our plan. Rishabh was on the list and we had kept about 26 for him so 27 was slightly up but we're very happy that we have him. He's an outstanding player, he's a team man, he's a match winner. I think we should be very very happy and all our fans should be happy to have him as part of LSG," he added.
Catch all the auction action here.