IPL 2025 mega auction

Batting superstar Rishabh Pant has broken his silence on his split with Delhi Capitals, stating that it was not about money. Pant responded to a post by one of the broadcasters of the Indian Premier League, in which Sunil Gavaskar attempted to explain why Delhi did not retain their captain ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

In the video, Gavaskar suggested that Delhi Capitals and Rishabh Pant might have disagreed over the wicketkeeper-batter's retention fee. He also speculated that the Capitals would look to buy Pant back in the mega auction, scheduled for November 24 and 25.

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ALSO READ: FULL LIST OF RETAINED AND RELEASED PLAYERS

"My retention wasn’t about the money for sure that I can say," Rishabh Pant said in his reply to the post on X, formerly Twitter. Screengrab from X

Delhi Capitals retained four players before the auction. Axar Patel was paid Rs 16.5 crore, Kuldeep Yadav was retained for Rs 13.5 corer while South African star Tristan Stubbs was paid Rs 10 crore. and uncapped wicketkeeper was retained for Rs 4 crore.

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"What I feel is Delhi Capitals would want Rishabh Pant back in their squad. Sometimes, when a player has to be retained, there are talks between the franchise and players over the fees, as expected. As some of the players who have been retained by their franchises, they have gone for more than what the No. 1 retention fee deduction would be. So clearly, I think there may be some disagreement there. But, my feeling is Delhi would want Rishabh Pant back," Gavaskar had told Star Sports.

Delhi Capitals did not pay any of their players the highest cap of Rs 18 crore. However, teams like Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Rs 21 crore to Virat Kohli) and SunRisers Hyderabad (Rs 23 crore for Heinrich Klaasen) paid more than the set price for their first-choice player.

Notably, Rishabh Pant had teased an exit after rumour mills went on overdrive speculating the future of the wicketkeeper-batter following Ricky Ponting's exit as head coach. Pant asked his fans and followers if he would find takers in the auction in a cryptic post before the retention deadline of October 31.

"If go to the auction. will I be sold or not and for how much ?? (sic)," he asked.

Pant was picked by Delhi Capitals right after his success in the U19 World Cup for India in 2016. Pant played 111 matches for the Capitals, scoring 3284 runs at an average of 35.

Despite his heroics in the red-ball format, Pant has struggled to live up to the hype in T20s, especially in the IPL. However, he enjoyed plenty of backing from the Ponting-led management. Pant was appointed as captain on his return from a year-long injury layoff.

Delhi Capitals are looking for a revamp after having appointed a new-looking coaching team. Former all-rounder Hemang Badani was appointed as the head coach, while Venugopal Rao was roped in as the Director of Cricket of the team. World Cup-winning former pacer Munaf Patel joined the team as their bowling coach earlier in November.

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