IPL retention: Rishabh Pant to enter auction after Delhi Capitals release captain
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has been released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. This marks the end of the franchise's nine-year association with the Delhi-based franchise.
by India Today Sports Desk · India TodayIn Short
- Delhi Capitals release captain Rishabh Pant
- Pant had just made a comeback in the previous season
- DC are expected to make Axar Patel the captain
In a surprising move, Delhi Capitals released their star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant ahead of the Indian Premier League mega-auction. Seen as one of the top commodities in Indian cricket, Pant's 9-year-stay at the franchise came to an end on Thursday, October 31.
Rishabh Pant had just made his comeback in the previous season after a long lay-off due to injury. Pant had worked incredibly hard to return to his fitness levels and played 13 games last season. In 2024, Pant scored 446 runs at a good strike-rate of 155.40.
In the 8 seasons of Indian Premier League that Pant has played, he has scored 3248 runs from 111 matches. The left-hander's exit puts Delhi in a bit of a pickle as they have to search for a batter, wicketkeeper and a captain.
On Thursday, Delhi retained Axar Patel (INR 16.5 Crore), Kuldeep Yadav (INR 13.25 Crore), Tristan Stubbs (INR 10 Crore) and Abhishek Porel (INR 4 Crore) at a combined purse of INR 43.75 Crore and enter the auction with INR 76.25 Crore. Hence, DC decided to let go of their captain who will join host of other big Indian stars in the auction namely Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. Pant joined Delhi in 2016 season and is the most capped player for the franchise in the history of the competition.