“I had only one tension-Punjab Kings”: Rishabh Pant shares his experience of IPL 2025 auction day drama

Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants’ owner Sanjiv Goenka announced Rishabh Pant as the new captain for the upcoming season on Monday. As he was announced as the new captain for IPL 2025, Pant talked about feeling tense during the auction. There were rumours that he might join the Chennai Super Kings or Punjab Kings. People thought CSK might want him because of his connection with MS Dhoni and PBKS because former Delhi coach Ricky Ponting was there.

On Star Sports, Pant shared that he was mostly worried about ending up with Punjab Kings because they had the most money. His worry reduced when Punjab picked Shreyas Iyer for INR 26.75 crore. Pant said, “I only had one tension, that was Punjab (laughs). They had the highest purse. When Shreyas went to Punjab, I felt I could make it to LSG. There was a possibility. But eventually, with auction you never know, so I just thought I would wait and watch, and had my fingers crossed.”

Plans focused on Pant

After Delhi released him before the auction in Jeddah, LSG bought Pant for a record INR 27 crore. Goenka explained that Pant was always a big part of their plans, and the team was built with him in mind. “The amount of strategising that was done revolved around Rishabh, it was done keeping him in mind,” said Goenka, believing Pant will prove to be not just the costliest but the best IPL player.

Where was Rishabh Pant during the auction?

Rishabh Pant was playing for the Indian Team in the Boder Gavaskar Trophy. Rishabh Pant shared that he was tensed during the auction. “I was tense; my name came up last in the first picks. I was worried, sitting with Rohit Sharma during the auction, watching it on my iPad. It was new for me because I had never been in the IPL auction before.”