Last Updated:
Parth Jindal revealed that Rishabh Pant wanted more say in terms of the non-playing roles which the franchise did not feel was needed.
Rishabh Pant who led the Delhi Capitals will head to the Lucknow Super Giants. (Image: Sportzpics)
The co-owner of the Delhi Capitals, Parth Jindal explained the reasons behind letting go of the face of their franchise, Rishabh Pant who was also their captain in the 2025 Indian Premier League mega auction.
Jindal explained that the franchise and Pant had been thinking differently. He implied that Pant wanted more say in terms of the non-playing roles which the franchise did not feel was needed.
“I think we were on different wavelengths. He felt that he felt that he should have a say in some of these things (coach and director of cricket decisions)and we felt that’s a franchise prerogative, so we couldn’t agree. We agreed to disagree,” he said as quoted by Sports Today.
But despite that, the DC co-owner was confident that the two could patch things up once they were able to get Pant back into the side. Considering that the two had a long-standing relationship,
“We were willing to take that chance because of my relationship with Rishabh. Delhi has two owners, GMR and JSW, we were all on the same wavelength, Kiran and I in terms of what we discussed with Rishabh. When we felt that commitment from his side was not forthcoming, then we felt it was better that he go into the auction and we target somebody else,” Jindal commented.
There’s genuine love between the franchise and Rishabh as we can see now. So I’m sure we would have been able to sort it out. It would have been a little bit more challenging, but I think Rishabh has that love for and respect for me and I have the same for him so I’m sure we would have been able to sort it out,” he added.
DC had Shreyas Iyer at the top of their buying list, but the Punjab Kings, who came into the auction with Rs 110.5 Crore, got the services of the IPL-winning captain at Rs 26.5 Crore, meaning DC had to continue searching for a captain.
“Having lost our primary target, who was Shreyas Iyer at the auction, and Rishabh coming in after that, then we said it doesn’t matter, we will mend our ways, and we will find a way to make it work with Rishabh,” he added.
But that was not the case as the Lucknow Super Giants broke the bank to make Pant the most expensive player in IPL Auction history with a bid worth Rs 27 Crore.
