In a rather explosive statement, DC coach Hemang Badani has revealed that Risabh Pant left the franchise because of money. Throughout, Rishabh Pant and owner Parth Jindal had maintained that them parting ways, was never related to money. “He wanted not to be retained,” Badani told Subramaniam Badrinath on podcast “Cric It with Badri”.
Rishabh Pant Wanted to Enter IPL 2025 Auction
“He said he wanted to go to the auction and test the market. If you want to retain a player, both parties have to agree on certain things. We tried talking to him, the management tried talking to him. There was a lot of phone calls and message exchanged,” the coach added.
Despite all this, DC was interested in bagging Rishabh Pant, which was quite evident at the IPL 2025 Auction, where the team RTMed him for INR 21 Cr. Eventually, he was sold to LSG for INR 27 Cr. “Yes, Delhi Capitals were interested in retaining him. He said he wanted to go to the auction and test the market. He said he has had a feeling that there were chances he would get more money than the highest cap for retained player, which is Rs 18 crore,” said Badani.
“And at the end of the day, he felt he was worth more. And the market said the same thing. He got Rs 27 crore. Good for him. He is a very good player. We will obviously miss him. But life goes on.” Parth Jindal had also gone on to post an emotional message on Twitter, calling him “family”. Rishabh also responded with an emotional message.
