Former Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in the history in the IPL auction after being roped in for a huge sum of Rs 27 crore by the Lucknow Super Giants at the IPL 2025 mega auctions.
Pant came in last in the marquee set 1 after Shreyas Iyer was roped in for the then record of 26.75 crore by Punjab Kings. Lucknow Super Giants were the first to raise the paddle for Pant at Rs 2 crore before Royal Challengers Bengaluru joined in the bidding war. Chennai Super Kings also came in the initial phase for a little period but backed out with LSG and RCB continuing the bid.
Sunrisers Hyderabad also joined the bidding war with LSG to surge the price further up. LSG had got the player for 20.75 crores before DC raised their paddle for Right to Match. But LSG then had a chance to raise the price and they took it to a whopping price of Rs 27 crore before the Capitals moved out of the bidding war. LSG got Pant, a captain, a wicketkeeper and a middle-order batter for Rs 27 crore.
Pant was with the Delhi Capitals for nine years from 2016 onwards. DC were the only team with whom he had played before being released by them ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions. Under Pant, Delhi had reached into the playoffs once - in 2021.
The Indian star wicketkeeper was in the marquee list 1 of the auction's final list with 11 other players in the two marquee sets. His base price was Rs 2 crore. Pant was DC's top retention ahead of IPL 2022 mega auctions as he was paid a hefty sum of Rs 16 crore.
In 111 matches, the 27-year-old wicketkeeper batter has scored 3284 runs at an average of 35.31 and a strike rate of 148.93. He has one century and 18 half-centuries to his name.
The IPL 2025 mega auctions took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The bidding war is scheduled to take place on two days November 24 and 25 with 577 players being on the final list for auctions. IPL has shortlisted 574 players from the initial list of 1574 registered players. Three more have been added, which means 577 players can be up for grabs in the auctions. Out of the 577 players, 367 are Indians and 210 are overseas stars. There are a maximum number of 204 slots to be filled in all the 10 teams.
