Rishabh Pant Sold As Most Expensive Player In IPL Auction

Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant was sold as the most expensive player on the first day of the IPL 2025 mega auction on Sunday in Jeddah. The team that has made it to the playoffs twice since its inception in 2o22, Lucknow Supergiants secured the services of Pant for a staggering INR 27.5 cr which is almost 69% more than he earned (16 cr) in the IPL 2024 in Delhi Capitals.

Rishabh was in the first set of the marquee players with a base price of INR 2 cr. LSG started the bidding for the Delhite cricketer right from the onset and had a tussle with Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad who were showing intense energy to grab him. Both of them stopped at INR 20.75 cr and Delhi discreetly used the RTM card for Pant there. However, Lucknow went beyond every team’s capacity to get him by hiking the price to INR 27 cr. It seemed like Lucknow management has found their captaincy candidate for a few seasons.

Most Expensive Player In IPL Auction

Before him, Shreyas Iyer was the costliest player in IPL history for some minutes as Punjab Kings broke the bank to include the 2023 IPL winning captain in their side for an outrageous  INR 26.75 cr. PKBS won the fiery bidding war against Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals to sign him.

Rishabh Pant represented Delhi from his debut season in 2016 to 2024 and scored 3284 runs in 110 innings 1t 148.9. He led Delhi for four years starting in 2021 when Shreays Iyer was ruled out due to an injury but they only reached the playoffs in 2021. Rishabh was also a part of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies. Moreover, before the auction Pant also scored a century against Bangladesh in tests in Chennai.