Rishabh Pant recalled the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) Mega Auction after being named Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain. The Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise purchased the Indian cricket superstar for a whopping value of Rs. 27 crore in an intense bidding war in Jeddah last year.

Pant is now the highest-paid player in IPL history after he narrowly beat Punjab Kings' (PBKS) signing of Shreyas Iyer for Rs. 26.75 crore just minutes before the 27-year-old went under the hammer. Pant left Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the 2025 season in a move that left the cricket fraternity shocked.

Coming into the 2025 IPL Auction, Pant was widely predicted to be the highest-paid player but Punjab Kings (PBKS) were clear favourites to sign him as they came with a budget of Rs. 112 crore. Royal Challengers Bengaluru had the second-highest purse of Rs. 26.75 crore. Another factor behind much speculation that the T20 World Cup 2024-winner will join PBKS was Ricky Ponting's presence at the franchise. Ponting and Pant worked together at DC for seven years and evidently share a healthy relationship.

Pant seemingly indicated that he was not keen on the Punjab-based franchise and revealed that their purse ensured it was a situation out of anyone's control. The 27-year-old revealed he was relieved to see PBKS purchased Iyer which opened the room for him to join LSG.

"From inside, I had only one tension. That was Punjab. Their budget was so high that if you wanted, you could not do anything. They had 112 crore, the second highest was Rs. 82 crore. When Shreyas joined Punjab, I was relieved that I can join LSG now." said Pant in an interaction with Star Sports.

LSG will only be the second team that Pant will play in his IPL career after spending his entire career so far at the Capitals. The Delhi-based franchise purchased him in the 2016 auction for Rs. 1.9 crore while he was playing in the 2016 U-19 World Cup for the Ishan Kishan-led Indian team.

Pant was retained by DC ahead of both the 2018 and 2022 mega auctions for Rs. 8 and 16 crore respectively. He led the franchise since the 2021 season after replacing Iyer in the top job.

PBKS have never won the IPL title and reached the playoffs just twice. Their last appearance in the second round of the competition was 11 years ago in 2014.

Pant will be hoping to lead LSG to their maiden IPL title. He is yet to taste glory in the cash-rich league as he has never won the trophy either as a player or captain.

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