NEW DELHI: In the Indian Premier League mega auction last week, star India ‘keeper-batter Rishabh Pant made history, becoming the most expensive buy ever as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) shelled out a jaw-dropping Rs 27 crore to buy his services.
Punjab Kings’ record of the most expensive buy ever at the auction after they spent Rs 26.75 crore on Shreyas Iyer was short lived as LSG, moments later, shelled out a massive sum after winning a bidding war with Delhi Capitals.
Businessman Sanjiv Goenka, who owns Lucknow Super Giants recently opened up on why the franchise went all the way to buy Rishabh at the auction.
In a chat with former Cricketer Aakash Chopra, Goenka said that he needed a leader in the team, who thinks differently and out of the box in difficult situations.
Goenka cited the example of Pant’s much talked about manoeuvre during the last T20 World Cup where he delayed the game when India were down and out against South Africa.
“I saw a video of Rishabh where he did dramebaazi (acting) on the field. He slowed the momentum. I liked that attitude a lot, that you have that extra thought to change the momentum when everything was going against us by removing the pads. From that time, I had in my mind that if only Rishabh had been in my team.”
“That one thing of his appealed to me a lot. Along with that, he came back from a near-fatal injury, and he has come back to a form which is better than his original form. So that resilience and ability to fight and rise again matter a lot. Rishabh is 27. So I hope he will be with LSG for the next 10-12 years,” Goenka said.
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Having earlier retained 5 players — Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore) and uncapped duo of Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan for Rs 4 crore each — LSG had a good mega auction where they roped in domestic and international stars, making a squad that is a terrific mixture of youth and experience.
Goenka admitted that is happy with the way the team has turned out and it is now up to coach Justin Langer and mentor Zaheer Khan on how they take the team forward.
“Our internal feeling is that our auction was very good. Our focus was that our middle order and finishing should be very strong. So, that number three to eight are very strong. Another thing we wanted was to go with an Indian pace attack, instead of international pace, and we went with explosive international batters. So, now we have got a combination of the two,” Goenka said.
Stay updated with the latest from IPL Auction 2025, including the final squads of all 10 teams – MI, CSK, RCB, GT, RR, KKR, DC, PBKS, SRH, and LSG. Don’t miss the latest updates on our Live Cricket Score page.
