Before the IPL Auction last month, there was a general consensus that Rishabh Pant would be the most expensive player ever. Some had predicted 30 Cr for him, some 25 Cr, and some even 20 Cr. But eventually he was sold to surprise bidders, Sanjiv Goenka’s LSG for 27 Cr.
DC Wanted Rishabh Pant
Even though his previous team, DC did use the RTM for the southpaw Delhi boy, but couldn’t match LSG’s bid. While not many had expected Lucknow to bag Rishabh, it seems the owners were very confident about bagging the player at IPL Auction. Talking in a podcast to Ranveer Allahbadia, Goenka added, that Parth Jindal is “crazy” for Rishabh, but he had the calculations ready.
“There was science behind, going at 27 Cr for Rishabh Pant. They went at 26.5 Cr for Shreyas Iyer. So, then my feeling was, ‘Parth Jindal is so crazy for Rishabh Pant, he would go one up at the IPL Auction’. So the idea was to go two up from him, or even three up, and that is where he would stop. For Rishabh, we had calculated three scenarios, and in all of them, he was very important for us.
“We knew we would go for him and we had kept around 25-27 Cr for him. So when the bidding stopped for Rishabh at 21-22 Cr, DC did not waste even a second to RTM him. So that means, they were willing to go the full extent. He wasn’t retained is a different circumstance, and it is not right for me to discuss all that, but they were keen for sure,” Goenka said.
Sanjiv Goenka, LSG Had Plan to Get him for IPL 2025
The Lucknow owner also explained the rationale behind bagging Rishabh Pant for such a high price. “If you look at Parth’s reaction; it was more like..the deal is done. Looking at all this, we thought 27 Cr was a safe bid. Had Rishabh not come to us, LSG would have missed an Indian anchor around whom the entire team is built. You see, there were a few experts who called me on the day of the IPL Auction, and suggested me to buy Yuzvendra Chahal or even Jos Buttler..no one suggested Rishabh.”
“I was confident, that he would be in LSG, and no one would bag him for 27 Cr. There could have been a few getters at 26.5 Cr, but not 27 Cr for sure.” All that could also mean that former Dc skipper will now be leading LSG too, after the franchise spent so much money on him.
