Rishabh Pant made history as the most expensive player in IPL auction history during the 2025 mega auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday. The Indian wicketkeeper-batter was signed by the Lucknow Super Giants for an astonishing ₹27 crore.
Earlier, the Delhi Capitals exercised its RTM (Right to Match) card at ₹20.75 crore to retain Pant, but Lucknow responded by raising the bid to Rs 27 crore, forcing DC to withdraw.
With this record-breaking signing, Pant surpassed the mark set moments earlier by Shreyas Iyer, who was picked up by the Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore.
Shashwat Goenka, LSG, said: “No matter how much you plan, things don’t always work out like that. This (getting Pant for Rs 27 crore) was very well to our plan. It wasn’t really a magic number; we just wanted a number so that the RTM doesn’t get exercised.”
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Pant was released by Delhi Capitals ahead of this year’s auction. He had been part of the Capitals’ set up since 2016 and was made captain ahead of the 2021 season in place of an injured Shreyas Iyer. Pant was retained as captain for IPL 2022.
Pant made a comeback in IPL 2024 after recovering from the severe injuries he sustained in a life-threatening car accident in December 2022. Upon his return, he was reinstated as captain of Delhi Capitals and he scored 446 runs in what turned out to be another average season for the team.