Sunil Gavaskar believes Delhi Capitals could be interested in retaining Rishabh Pant for IPL 2025.
There are plenty of big questions heading into the IPL auction for 2025, maybe primary amongst them being what Rishabh Pant’s landing spot will be after his decision to leave Delhi Capitals after a near-decade long association with his home team.
Delhi Capitals’ captain Rishabh Pant celebrates after scoring a half-century (AFP)
Pant, who was captain of DC for the last four seasons, was not one of the four retentions of the Delhi franchise, and will go under the hammer for the first time since his debut auction. Expected to collect a big payday due to his batting ability, wicketkeeping, potential captaincy, and marketability as a star player, Pant is projected to likely be the highest earner in the auction.
Nevertheless, although Pant seems to have parted ways with Delhi over a difference of opinion, Sunil Gavaskar believes that the Delhi franchise could go back to one of the most iconic players in their franchise’s history during the auction.
Speaking on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’, Gavaskar spoke about where he thinks Pant could end up, stating that a return was possible. “Delhi will want him because they will also need to find a captain if Rishabh Pant isn’t in their team. So I feel Delhi will definitely try to use the RTM card or bring Rishabh Pant back into their team at the auction,” said the former Indian batter.
Pant was in strong form for Delhi in 2024, marking his return after his injury from accident with a 446-run season at a strike-rate of 155, as DC narrowly missed out on the playoffs.
Alternatives for Delhi Capitals to replace Pant
Delhi will be one of the teams in the arms race for the captain-batter options in the IPL auction, with the trio of Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul likely to attract plenty of attention. Teams such as Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi will be on the hunt for a captain, and would likely all be interested in Pant as well.
Wondering why Pant and Iyer were released from their franchises despite relative success as the captains for DC and KKR, Gavaskar said “When KKR won last year (IPL 2024), Shreyas Iyer was the captain. As I said earlier for Rishabh Pant as well, at times, there could be a disagreement on the fees.”
Delhi might look for a homecoming for either Pant or Iyer, who was with the DC franchise until 2021. However, the fact that the teams couldn’t reach an agreement with the players regarding retention indicates all parties might prefer to move on from the association.
Alternatively, they may look to grant captaincy duties to Axar Patel, and prioritise finding domestic batting talent with someone like Ishan Kishan, saving their RTMs for pace bowling from Khaleel Ahmed or Mukesh Kumar instead.
The IPL auction will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 24th and 25th November.
