Rishabh Pant is set to part ways with Delhi Capitals and could fetch as much as Rs 30 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction, according to market buzz.
All is not well in the Delhi Capitals camp in the build-up to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction next month. The DC team management are desperately trying to hold on to their star player and former captain Rishabh Pant.
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The Indian wicketkeeper was replaced as captain in the IPL 2023 and 2024 season by David Warner as he was involved in a horrific car accident in December 2022 which kept him out of action for entire 2023 season and he only made a comeback from injury in the T20 league earlier this year. However, with GMR Group handling the management of the team for the next couple of years while co-owners JSW Sports will take care of the women’s team, there have been a host of changes which have not gone down well with Pant.
There is even speculation that GMR Group are considering replacing Pant with Axar Patel as the new captain of DC for IPL 2025. According to a report on Cricbuzz website, Pant had a meeting with GMR Group officials in Dubai earlier this month and asked for former India batter Yuvraj Singh as mentor/Director of Cricket but that request was denied as Y. Venugopal Rao has already replaced former India captain Sourav Ganguly as ‘Director of Cricket’ at DC.
Pant then complicated the situation with his late-night post on social media platform, X. “If I go to the auction, will I be sold or not, and for how much?”
“Indications are that both GMR and JSW, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, are keen to retain Pant unless the situation spirals out to a point of no return. They have viewed his social media post as an impulsive reaction from a young player and have tried to shrug it off,” the Cricbuzz report read.
But there is speculation that if Pant does go into the auction, he can potentially fetch astronomical amount – possibly as much as Rs 30 crore. “The decision of Delhi Capitals leaning towards Axar Patel over Pant for captaincy has indeed surprised many in the cricket community. Pant, having been the face of Delhi Capitals in recent seasons and carrying immense influence, would naturally have expected to retain a leadership role,” the Cricblogger website was quoted as saying.
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Problem of plenty affecting Shreyas Iyer’s chances
The situation is completely different in the IPL 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) camp. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was one of the team owners who had argued for only RTMs and no retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
While KKR would love to retain Shreyas Iyer but the presence of stars like Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer means that Iyer could be heading back into the auction for no fault of his own.
