On the first day of the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Rishabh Pant was sold to the Lucknow Super Giants for 27 crore, making him the most expensive player in IPL history. He beat the record set by Shreyas Iyer, who was taken by Punjab Kings just a few minutes before for INR 26.75 crore.
Before Iyer, the record for the most expensive player in IPL was held by Mitchell Starc, who was bought for 24.75 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2024 IPL auction. LSG came to the mega auction in search of a new captain, and Pant got the benefit of it as LSG paid a hefty amount for the former captain of Delhi Capitals.
Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru started the bidding for Pant, with Sunrisers Hyderabad joining the competition after RCB withdrew. SRH and LSG increased the price to INR 20.75 crore, at which time SRH backed out, and Pant was expected to be taken away by LSG.
But the auctioneer then asked Delhi Capitals whether they wanted to use their right-to-match (RTM) option to purchase back Pant, and DC agreed. According to the new RTM rule, the highest bidder was given another opportunity to increase their bid, which LSG did from 20.75 crore to 27 crore. After this, DC declined to match the bid, resulting in Pant being sold to LSG for a record-breaking price of 27 crore.
After getting Pant, the owner of LSG looked overwhelmed. “No matter how much you plan, things don’t work out like that,” Shashwat Goenka, the LSG owner, said. “This was very well to our plan. It wasn’t really a magic number; we just wanted a number so that the RTM doesn’t get exercised.”
Now that Rishabh Pant has become the highest-paid player in IPL history, it will be interesting to see whether he will justify his price tag or shatter under the pressure of such a humongous amount.
In the past, there are numerous examples of players bought in such a huge amount that they consequently shattered under the pressure of that immense amount; Yuvraj Singh and Chris Morris are prime examples of it.
