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When asked about their record-breaking pursuit for Pant, Goenka reinstated that it was not about grandeur or ‘vanity’ but rather to stick to their plan for the future of the franchise.
LSG signed Rishabh Pant for Rs 27 crore in IPL 2025 mega auction. (Picture Credit: Sportzpics)
A paradigm shift occurred in the Delhi Capitals camp, which is focusing on a rebuild, as they let go of skipper Rishabh Pant to the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2025 Mega Auction in Jeddah on Saturday.
At the mega auction, LSG looked to spearhead with a bid of INR 20.75 but were challenged by Delhi Capitals with the Right To Match card.
However, The Sanjeev Goenka-owned franchise, the league’s costliest franchise themselves, played a masterstroke, adding 6.25 crore to the existing price and ending up roping in the 27-year-old for a record-breaking Rs 27 crore.
When asked about their record-breaking pursuit for Pant, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka reinstated that it was not about grandeur or ‘vanity’ but rather to stick to their plan for the future of the franchise.
“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,”Goenka said to Cricbuzz, justifying the price tag they had accepted to acquire the wicketkeeper-batter.
“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.”
Renowned for his versatility across formats, Pant is regarded as one of the finest batters of his era, capable of turning games around single-handedly in any situation. Letting a proven talent like him walk was a bold decision that the Delhi Capitals took.
DC, in reply, swooped in later to rope in his replacement: yet another proven wicketkeeper-batter and LSG skipper KL Rahul, as both franchises ended up replacing their captains with the other.
This arose questions of whether Pant was looked up to take over the reins as skipper, to which Goenka had his own say on the matter.
“Bataunga, bataunga, very soon. (I’ll let you know). Let the auction get over and we will tell you. Will inform you all very soon,” replied Goenka.
