New Delhi, November 19 (IANS). Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has revealed that his release from the Delhi Capitals team ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction was not a matter of money.
Pant, making his first public reaction after not being retained by the franchise after missing the 2023 edition due to injury for three seasons as captain, contradicted Sunil Gavaskar’s opinion in which he had suggested that the retention fee should be increased. The move was taken due to disagreements and Delhi would like him back in the team.
“My retention was definitely not about money,” Pant wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Talking about Delhi’s auction strategy on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “Look the dynamics of the auction are completely different, so we don’t know how it will play out, but I think Delhi will definitely want Rishabh Pant in their bid. Sometimes when a player has to be retained, there is talk between the franchise and the players about the expected fee. Some of the players who have been retained by their franchise have asked about the number one retention fee. Asked for more.
“So obviously I think there was some disagreement on that, but I think Delhi definitely want Rishabh Pant back because they also need a captain. If Rishabh Pant is not in their team then they have to look for a new captain.” We have to find the captain.”
Delhi Capitals have two Right to Match cards, which they can use to bring back Pant or any other member of the previous squad in the auction, as they have only retained Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel. Have done.
Earlier, Pant expressed doubts over the franchise retaining him and made a cryptic post on social media. He wrote, “If we go to auction. Will I be sold or not and for how much?”
The aggressive left-handed batsman made a comeback to competitive cricket earlier this year in IPL 2024 after a horrific car accident ruled him out of the entire 2023 season. He won the ICC T20 World Cup with the Rohit Sharma-led side before making a comeback to the ODI and Test side.
–IANS
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