Pant, listed in the marquee set with a base price of INR 2 crore.
The IPL 2025 mega auction is finally here, taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and it promises plenty of surprises and fierce bidding wars. One of the biggest talking points is Rishabh Pant, who was recently released by Delhi Capitals.
With his exceptional skills as a wicketkeeper-batter, Pant is expected to attract strong interest, and Punjab Kings are seen as front-runners to bid for him, due to their significant auction budget.
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Punjab Kings’ new head coach, Ricky Ponting, has added to the anticipation. Ponting, who previously worked with Pant during their time at Delhi Capitals, spoke about the buzz surrounding the star player. With Ponting now leading Punjab, fans are eager to see if his connection with Pant will influence the team’s decisions.
“Oh look, we’ve spoken about lots of players in the auction. I mean, Rishabh is going to be a target for most teams, you’d think,” Ponting told Star Sports.
“Certainly the ones that have kept a big enough purse. So we go into the auction with the biggest purse, but when you think about that, when you break it down, we’ve only kept the two players,” he added.
Ricky Ponting highlighted that while Punjab Kings have the largest auction purse heading into the IPL 2025 mega auction, this advantage is temporary. Once the team secures three or four key players, their remaining budget will be similar to other teams. The initial flexibility allows them to focus on locking in top priorities early in the auction, but careful planning is still essential to maintain balance.
Ponting also emphasized that Punjab Kings have considered many players, including Rishabh Pant, but success will depend on sticking to their pre-planned strategy rather than getting carried away by any single target.
The head coach said, “So by the time we’ve bought another three or four players, our purse is going to be back the same as everyone else’s. So it’s not that big of an advantage, only the fact that we probably should be able to lock away our top three or four picks going into the auction.”
“So yeah, look, we’ve spoken about Rishabh, we’ve spoken about lots of players, and now we have to make sure that we just stick to our strategy,” he added.
Pant, listed in the marquee set with a base price of INR 2 crore, is set to be one of the most sought-after players. Whether Punjab Kings make a bold move to secure him remains to be seen, but his signing could be a game-changer for any team.
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