Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) broke the bank last month at the IPL Mega Auction when they bought the star wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for an astounding Rs 27 crore. His bid secured Pant as the most expensive buy in the history of IPL players’ auction, overshadowing even the bid mooted today by PBKS for Shreyas Iyer at Rs 26.75 crore. Fast forward to present, and now, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka revealed the science behind the record-breaking bid for Pant, who was released before the IPL 2025 mega auction by Delhi Capitals (DC).
He said he knew that DC co-owner Parth Jindal “was crazy” for Pant and would have actually fought tooth and nail to get back Pant. That is after DC missed the chance to rope in Iyer, sold to PBKS for Rs 26.75 crore.
“There was science behind going at 27 Cr for Rishabh Pant. Delhi went at 26.5 Cr for Shreyas Iyer. So, then my feeling was, ‘Parth Jindal is so crazy for Rishabh Pant, he would go one up at the IPL Auction.’ So, the idea was to go two up from Parth, or even three up, and that is where he would stop. For Rishabh, we had calculated three scenarios, and in each one of them he was very important to us,” Goenka said on Ranveer Allahbadia’s YouTube channel.
Thus, LSG were holding around Rs 25-27 crore for Pant, making the need for a captain so obvious that when DC decided to exercise the RTM at Rs 22 crore, they had the whole strategic knowledge that to block DC from snatching the player from them, they had to bid more than Rs 26 crore.
“We knew we were going to get him, and we had kept between 25 and 27 crores for him in all our planning. So, when the bidding stopped for Rishabh at 21-22 Cr, DC did not waste even a second to use RTM for him. So that means they were willing to go to the full extent that we have to take Rishabh,” he added.
If LSG had missed out on having Pant, it would have had nothing but the absence of an Indian anchor in its squad.
“We knew very well, he was coming to us anyway, so we had set aside between 25 and 27 crores in all our planning for him. So, during the time Rishabh bidding stopped at 21-22 Cr, DC didn’t waste a second in using RTM for him. So that means they were willing to go to the full extent that we have to take Rishabh,” Goenka stated.
Download the CricInformer app
Take CricInformer with you. Get our app for cricket news and updates on your phone.