Rishabh Pant‘s cellphone must be going bonkers in Perth after his record-breaking Rs 27 crore Indian Premier League (IPL) pay-cheque took the internet by storm on day one of the auction in Jeddah on Sunday.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who was not retained by Delhi Capitals (DC) and is currently playing the Test series in Australia, was bought by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) after an intense bidding war with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi — taking his base-price of Rs 2 crore to a record rise.
It will be the first time that Pant will move out of his hometown Delhi to play for another IPL side, and it required LSG to empty their pockets, breaking the record set by Australian pacer Mitchell Starc last year with his Rs 24.75 crore bid from Kolkata Knight Riders.
Delhi exercised their Right-to-Match card when LSG reached Rs 20.75 crore, matching Lucknow’s bid to keep Pant in their squad. However, LSG raised the stakes once again, pushing their bid to Rs 27 crore. DC, despite their desire to retain Pant, did not use the RTM again to match the final bid.
After Pant’s long-time association ended with Delhi, the franchise aptly put out a “miss you” tweet to bid farewell to the star wicketkeeper-batter.
The 27-year-old Pant made a comeback to competitive cricket in the IPL earlier this year after more than a year-long recovery following his horror car accident in December 2022.
In 111 IPL matches, Pant has scored 3,284 runs at an impressive average of 35.31 and a strike rate of 148.93, including one century and 18 fifties.
Here’s how the fans, franchises and experts reacted to Pant’s record deal: