Delhi Capitals newly-appointed head coach Hemang Badani has shared some surprising details on Rishabh Pant's non-retention by the franchise. In a recent interaction, Badani has revealed that Pant didn't want to be retained by the DC franchise as he felt his worth was more than Rs 18 crore. "I think it's the other way around. He wanted not to be retained. He said he wanted to go to the auction and test the market. If you want to retain a player, both parties (the team and the player) have to agree on certain things. We tried talking to him, the management tried talking to him. There were a lot of phone calls and messages exchanged," Hemang Badani told Subramaniam Badrinath in a YouTube show as quoted by India Today.
"Yes (Delhi Capitals were interested in retaining him). He said he wanted to go to the auction and test the mark. He said he had a feeling that there were chances he would get more money than the highest cap for retained player, which is Rs 18 crore. "And, at the end of the day, he felt he was worth more. And the market said the same thing. He got Rs 27 crore. Good for him. He is a very good player. We will obviously miss him. But, life goes on," he added. Interestingly, earlier in a social media post, Pant had said that leaving DC had nothing to take with money. "My retention wasn't about the money for sure that I can say," he had written on X.
Rishabh Pant became the costliest pick in the history of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) first bagged him for Rs 20.75 crore, but Delhi Capitals (DC) used their Right to Match (RTM) card to retain him. LSG, however, increased the bid to Rs 27 crore, which DC did not match, and Pant went to LSG. Rishabh Pant started his IPL career with the Delhi Capitals (DC) and played for the franchise in 2016 until his last appearance in 2024. He became the full-time captain in 2021
