Rishabh Pant has hit back at former India batter Sunil Gavaskar clarifying that not being retained by Delhi Capitals “wasn’t about the money”. The former DC captain was not retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Responding to a video by Star Sports which featured Gavaskar speaking about the IPL retentions and the upcoming auction, Pant said, “My retention wasn’t about the money for sure that I can say 🤍”.
Rishabh Pant likely to enter IPL 2025 mega auction
In the video, Gavaskar said, “Auction dynamics are completely different so we don’t know how it will go. But I feel Delhi would certainly want Rishabh Pant back in their squad. Sometimes when the player is to be retained, there is talk between the player and the franchise about the fees that are expected and you can see some of the players who have been retained by their franchise have gone for more than what their deduction fee would have been.
“Maybe there was some disagreement there but my feeling is that Delhi would definitely want Rishabh Pant back.. because they need a captain as well. If Rishabh Pant is not in their squad, they would have to look for that as well. Delhi will definitely go for Rishabh Pant.”
Delhi Capitals retained four players for the IPL 2025 season and beyond with three capped and one uncapped choice. The franchise opted to stick with Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel, thereby spending Rs 43.75 crore on them. As a result, they will enter the auction with Rs 76.25 crore.