Rishabh Pant has broken the bank at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. He’s broken the record for the most expensive player in IPL auction history, going past the record Shreyas Iyer set mere minutes ago. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have bagged the wicketkeeper for a record-breaking Rs 27 crore, which was just Rs 25 lakh more than what Punjab Kings had paid for Shreyas.
LSG breaks the bank for Rishabh Pant
This also shows how much LSG wanted to move on from KL Rahul, their captain from their inception. Having not retained Rahul due to his lack of intent, LSG chose to go with another wicketkeeper in Pant. Of course, there is a huge difference when comparing the two. Not only is Pant five years younger, but he has a much better record in the IPL than Rahul .
Pant has shown he can control the game from behind the wickets and in the middle. Something had LSG though Rahul wasn’t good enough at. As a southpaw who’s also a middle-order batter, Pant is going to help Nicholas Pooran play even more freely than before, and then there is Ayush Badoni, who would come later and bash the bowlers. LSG’s batting just looks much better with Pant’s inclusion.
Rishabh Pant & KL Rahul: IPL stat comparison
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rishabh Pant | 111 | 3284 | 35.31 | 148.93 | 1 | 18 |
| KL Rahul | 132 | 4683 | 45.46 | 134.60 | 4 | 37 |
Rishabh Pant the best wicketkeeper batter in IPL history?
Pant has scored less than 300 runs in an IPL season just once, which happened in his debut season (2016). His average hasn’t been lower than 30 since 2018 and only twice has his strike rate been lower than 130 (2020 and 2021). After MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, he’s got the most runs as a wicketkeeper, and as far as dismissals are concerned, he’s behind just three (Wriddhiman Saha joins Dhoni and Karthik).
At 27, and despite missing a full season, he’s got 43 as captain under his belt. Pant’s DC’s second most successful captain by win percentage and number of matches won and been their only shining light. One can’t forget that he took DC to the Playoffs in his first season as captain. In 2024, he was their leading run-scorer despite not playing a match in over 15 months.
