"Rs 27 Crore Was...": LSG Owner On Record-Breaking Bid For Rishabh Pant At IPL 2025 Auction

Shashwat Goenka, the son of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka, said that bringing star India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant to the franchise for Rs 27 crore was a plan and they put in such a big amount so that Delhi Capitals (DC) could not use their 'Right to Match' card to retain his services. Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), being bought by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for a massive Rs 27 crores during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction at Jeddah on Sunday.

Speaking after the successful bid, Shashwat said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "No matter how much you plan, things do not always work out like that. This (getting Pant for 27 crore) was very well to our plan. It was not really a magic number, we just wanted a number so that the RTM does not get exercised."

LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka also opened up on Pant's acquisition, saying: "Well, this was part of our plan. Rishabh was on the list, we had kept Rs crore for him. 27 was slightly up. But, we are very happy that we have him. He is an outstanding player, a match-winner. Fans should be very very happy to have him as part of LSG."

Pant beat compatriot Shreyas Iyer, who had just become the most expensive player in league's history, going to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 26.75 crores a few minutes back. He had beat Australia's Mitchell Starc, who marked his return to IPL after years with a record-breaking bid of Rs 24.75 crores.

Initially, there was a bidding war between LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), with the latter giving up. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) entered the bidding war, trying to bolster their explosive batting attack and Delhi Capitals (DC) tried to use the 'Right To