“Rishabh Pant Himself Decided 'I Don't Want To Stay’”- DC Owner Parth Jindal On Reasons For Fallout; Watch

by · Sportzwiki

Rishabh Pant’s failure to take feedback positively was a potential reason for his release, claimed Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal after the IPL 2025 mega auction. DC had not retained Rishabh Pant, who had spent 9 years with the franchise since his IPL debut in 2016.

The 27-year-old received bids from various franchises on the first day of the IPL 2025 super auction. He broke the record for the biggest bid in IPL history. The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) signed him for ₹27 crore, surpassing Shreyas Iyer’s ₹26.75 crore contract with the Punjab Kings (PBKS).

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Rishabh Pant made his IPL debut in 2016 for the Delhi Capitals. The left-handed batter quickly established himself as the team’s most important player. He became captain in 2021 and led the squad to 23 victories in 43 games.

The southpaw missed the entire IPL 2023 season owing to injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.

We had a lot of discussions with Rishabh Pant: Parth Jindal

Pant returns to the Delhi Capitals for the Indian Premier League 2024. The wicketkeeper-batter finished as the side’s best run-getter, with 446 runs in 13 games at an excellent strike rate of 155.40. However, he failed to lead the Delhi-based side to the playoffs in the most recent season.

Talking about Rishabh Pant’s release, Parth Jindal revealed that the decision was made collectively by the ownership group after multiple discussions with the player. Jindal said that they provided honest feedback on Pant’s performance, but the player did not take it constructively.

“No, I do not think it is about ownership here. I think we were very aligned as an ownership group. It was a collective decision that was taken. We had a lot of discussions with Rishabh. There were things that we expected of Rishabh that we did not get last season or in the previous seasons and we gave him honest feedback on that,” Parth told RevSportz.

“We both, GMR, JSW, we are one family. We are one, we are united and it was a decision we took. We gave him feedback. Feedback was not taken as we expected it to be taken. He took an emotional call. He has also grown up in this franchise and he was a young boy when he started,” he added.

Parth Jindal said the franchise appreciated Rishabh Pant’s choice. Jindal agreed not to pursue Pant at the auction, but he attempted to bring him back. He stated that Pant’s price rose too high, prompting the decision not to keep him during the auction.

“He decided that he wanted to go in a different direction, which we respected. At that time, I also respected it. I said, Rishabh, it is okay, I would not go for you in the auction. But then my heart wanted him back in the auction and I tried getting him back. Kiran also was like, it is OK.

We will make up later. Both of us will make up with him after the auction if we get him, we will figure it out. We tried, but then the price became too high. So, it was nothing to do with ownership. It was a joint decision that we took,” Parth added.

Rishabh Pant is now in line to captain Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), while DC bought KL Rahul for only INR 14 Crores and might make him their captain. Also Read: