New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari), November 24: India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant set a record for the most expensive player in an IPL auction. Lucknow SuperGiants bought him for a whopping INR 27 crores.
He broke the Indian teammate Shreyas Iyer’s record of INR 26.75 crores, which was purchased by the Punjab Kings a little while back. It appeared that the Lucknow SuperGiants have triumphed over both the SunRisers Hyderabad as well as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the battle to acquire Pant.
But the story turned out to be an interesting one when the DCs used their RTM at the sum of 20.75 crores. LSG countered that by raising the LSG bid to a whopping INR 27 crores, at which point DC did not raise his own. LSG was the team that finally traded for him. LSG also has Nicholas Pooran, another batsman who is a wicketkeeper.
In the M1 marquee set, PBKS ensured they had Shreyas Iyer before selling Pant to LSG. It was under the leadership of Iyer, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, who became the first Indian player ever to earn more than 20 crores at the IPL auctions.He was part of the team that lifted the 2024 trophy. Further, he was in demand from DC and KKR franchises. But they could not exceed the highest amount offered by PBKS at that time. Also, PBKS paid INR 18 crores as RTM for left-arm pace bowler Arshdeep Singh. The action of the Gujarat Titans, however, was to acquire Kagiso Rabada (INR 10.75C) and Jos Buttler (INR 15.75C).
