Rishabh Pant’s departure from Delhi Capitals was over the captaincy disagreement for the IPL 2025 season. The Indian wicketkeeper had it clear that he want to become India captain eventually.
Delhi Capitals (DC) owners have agreed on one thing that they lost their talismanic player Rishabh Pant, the minute the Indian wicketkeeper was allowed to enter the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. Pant has always maintained that his discussions with the DC owners over retention wasn’t about money.
Now DC co-owner Parth Jindal had revealed that there was difference in opinion between Pant and them over the captaincy of the franchise for the upcoming IPL 2025. It is believed that Pant was informed that all-rounder Axar Patel will be leading the side in the T20 league which was not agreeable to him.
“We gave him (Rishabh Pant) some feedback regarding leadership. We told him ways in which he could improve on that, but we were quite clear that we know his ambitions, we know where he wants to go. He’s made it amply clear that his dream and desire is to captain India and that starts with captaining an IPL team,” Jindal was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo website.
“I want to be the Indian Captain” – : Rishabh Pant said this to Parth Jindal
There was lot of negative PR against Bumrah,Sky,Gill when they were made captain of ICT.
Told you, Rishabh Pant was running this negative PR. pic.twitter.com/M0qUX3LZ3P
— Anurag™ (@Samsoncentral) November 27, 2024
“Money’s never been an issue for Rishabh. And money’s never been an issue for us. I guess the three of us (Kiran Grandhi, Jindal and Pant) were on different wavelengths. He took a call at the end of it. We tried everything, but he decided eventually that it was time to move on,” he added.
When asked if Axar Patel was a leadership candidate for DC for the upcoming season, Jindal said, “He’s (Axar Patel) been phenomenal for us and he’s done a great job as the vice-captain of the franchise. Whenever Rishabh was not available, whenever Rishabh was injured, Axar did step in and play a big role. He’s a jovial fellow, he keeps the dressing room very light. He’s an uncomplicated character and he’s someone who, I think, can do a great job.”
DC bid aggressively for Shreyas Iyer, trying to bring back their former captain into the side but at the end of the day, Punjab Kings’ bid of Rs 26.75 crore at the IPL 2025 Mega Auction proved too much for them.
“Shreyas and Rishabh were coming out in the first set and KL was coming out in the second set. We were very clear that between the three of them, we needed to get one. So we went all the way for Shreyas. Frankly, it (Shreyas’ bid) went a bit too high and I think my reaction was very visible on the table (chuckles) – it (the bid) had crossed all budgets,” Jindal said about Shreyas Iyer.
DC tried to use their ‘Right to Match’ option when Lucknow Super Giants landed him at Rs 20.75 crore but LSG owner raised the bid to a massive Rs 27 crore, which the Delhi franchise couldn’t match. As a result, Pant became the most expensive player ever in IPL history.
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