Watch: Rishabh Pant's savage jibe at Preity Zinta's Punjab Kings: "There was only one strain..."

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Taking a sly dig at Punjab Kings, Rishabh Pant said he is worried about going to Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 mega auction. The wicketkeeper-batsman made the comments in an interview with Jatin Sapru on Star Sports.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka sits down with Rishabh Pant. In the same interview, it was confirmed that the Delhi star is the new captain of LSG. He replaces his Indian counterpart KL Rahul as the new LSG captain.

Rishabh Pant has been playing for Delhi Capitals since the 2016 IPL season. He was also named as the captain of the team in 2021. Since then, he has led the Capitals in every season except 2023, when he was seriously injured in a life-threatening car accident.

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Many didn’t expect Rishabh Pant to sign up for the bid but eventually he did after failing to reach an agreement with Delhi Capitals. The elusive batsman was tipped to get a lucrative contract in the IPL 2025 mega auction and eventually became the most expensive player in IPL history. LSG acquired the service for INR 27 crores.

Rishabh Pant digs at Punjab Kings:

After being confirmed as the captain of LSG, Rishabh Pant decided to take a shot at Punjab Kings, expressing fears that the franchise might go for him. The former Delhi skipper was confident that the franchise would go big for him in the bid as he has the highest wallet of Punjab Kings.

However, before Pant was sold, Punjab Kings had signed IPL winning batsman Shreyas Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore. While Pant did not divulge why he was worried about moving to Punjab Kings, his comments made it clear that he does not want to go to the franchise and meet former Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting.

“I was only concerned about one, and that was Punjab,” Rishabh Pant said before breaking out into laughter.

“The second highest purse was 82 crores (Royal Challengers Bengaluru had a purse of 83 million) and Punjab had 112 crores (110.5 crores). So, initially when Shreyas went there, I felt that I am done now. He is going to LSG,” he added.

“Ek hai tension ta, Punjab” he said rightly because of the wallet they were carrying.

– 𝒑.💌 (@ssnoozefest) January 20, 2025

In the mega auction, LSG and RCB started pant auction. After RCB dropped out, Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to bid for the Indian star. The two franchises took the bid to INR 20.75 crore before SRH pulled out and sold Pant to LSG.

However, Delhi Capitals decided to use their Right to Match (RTM) card in an attempt to buy back the captain. Under the new rules, LSG was given another chance to increase its bid and the Lucknow-based franchise placed the winning bid of INR 27 crores. After DC refused to match the bid, LSG eventually secured Pant’s services at a record price.