On This Day: Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in the history of IPL

November 24, 2024—the date entered into the record book as soon as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) roped in Rishabh Pant after an aggressive bidding war. LSG secured the service of Pant for a record amount, for INR 27 crore. Who would have thought that the swashbuckling keeper-batter was going to fetch INR 27 Cr from the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025?

The mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, witnessed some of the most expensive buys in the history of the cash-rich league. Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Yuzvendra Chahal—apart from Pant, these are cricketers who got a record amount of bids from the auction table. All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer returned to Kolkata Knight Riders for 23.75, and batter Shreyas Iyer went to Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore minutes before Pant broke his payday record. Chahal joined the Punjab-based franchise for INR 18 crore.

LSG was in search of a new skipper as a replacement for KL Rahul. KL Rahul was their captain in the season before the mega. But the ambitious franchise was visibly not happy with his performance. Before the mega auction, it was obvious that LSG was going to make some heavy bids for a star player. It was also assumed that Pant could get a handsome paycheck. But how much? That was the question.

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Record-breaking bid for Rishabh Pant

Punjab Kings, who also had a fat purse, was eager to get the keeper-batter. In the end, LSG sought the highest amount for him. Another interesting thing in the auction was that the top 5 buys were Indian cricketers, not overseas candidates. Before, it was the foreign talents who mostly received the most lucrative deals.

Rishabh (INR 27,00,00,000), Venkatesh (INR 23,75,00,000), Shreyas (INR 26,75,00,000), Arshdeep Singh (INR 18,00,00,000, PBKS used RTM), and Chahal (INR 18,00,00,000) broke the jinx.