Delhi Capitals head coach Hemang Badani has revealed the reasons for Rishabh Pant‘s departure from the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 auction.
With Parthiv Jindal attributed Rishabh Pant’s departure to factors beyond financial considerations, the team’s newly appointed coach, Hemang Badani has a different perspective.
Delhi Capitals expressed their desire to retain Rishabh Pant, Badani revealed that the former captain was eager to explore his market value in the IPL mega auction.
Pant underwent the hammer during the auction and became the most expensive player in IPL history after Lucknow Super Giants grabbed him for a record-breaking price of INR 27 crore.
“I think it’s the other way around. He wanted not to be retained. He said he wanted to to the auction and test the market. If you want to retain a player, both parties (the team and the player) have to agree on certain things.”
“We tried talking to him, the management tried talking to him. There were a lot of phone calls and messages exchanged,” said Hemang Badani.
“Yes (Delhi Capitals were interested in retaining him). He said he wanted to go to the auction and test the mark. He said he had a feeling that there were chances he would get more money than the highest cap for retained player, which is Rs 18 crore,” he further stated.
“And, at the end of the day, he felt he was worth more. And the market said the same thing. He got Rs 27 crore. Good for him. He is a very good player. We will obviously miss him. But, life goes on,” Badani concluded.
However, Pant has already given answers for speculations on his departure from Delhi Capitals.
“My retention wasn’t about the money for sure that I can say,” Rishabh Pant said.
Meanwhile Parthiv Jindal had said that money was not an issue for the parties and highlighted that Pant did not take any feedback as well as they expected.
“We gave him feedback. The feedback was not taken as we expected it to be taken. And yeah, it’s okay. He took an emotional call. He has also grown up in this franchise.”
“He was a young boy when he started. Delhi Daredevils gave him the opportunity. Kiran gave him his first opportunity. I came into the franchise later and developed a very strong bond with him,” told Delhi Capitals co-owner Parthiv Jindal.
