Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul from left to right. (FILE photo)
Among the released players from the franchises Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals), Shreyas Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders), and KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants) have caught the headlines. While three of them have played some remarkable knocks for both franchises and country they were not retained by their respective teams.
“I’m a bit surprised with some of the non-Indian retentions if you like, with both Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant being available in the auctions,” said Punjab Kinds Head Coach Ricky Ponting said. “It was a bit surprising, even KL Rahul to a certain degree. It seems like individuals or franchises are busy looking to move in different directions to some of their players,” he added.
Pant was roped in for Rs 1.9 crore by Delhi in the IPL 2016 auction and has been retained by the franchise ever since. Pant appeared in 111 matches for the Capitals, scoring over 3284 runs with a century and 18 half-centuries. Despite missing out on the entirety of 2023 due to his unfortunate car accident, Pant was retained by the Capitals. He returned as skipper in IPL 2024, scoring 446 runs, as Capitals failed to make the Playoffs. In Pant’s absence, it is understood that the Capitals are keen on bringing back Iyer, who led the franchise to their first and only IPL final in 2020.
Meanwhile, Rahul will return to the IPL auction for the first time since 2018 when the Karnataka batter was roped in by Punjab Kings at Rs 11 crore. Rahul later became one of the first three automatic choices for LSG before they entered the IPL mega-auction in 2022. In three seasons with the LSG, Rahul scored over 1400 runs as the team made the Playoffs twice.
“This is where it gets exciting,” the 49-year-old said. “You’ve got to understand who your number one target is and how much money you are willing to pay for them. That’s such a big part of it (IPL), of getting the auction right strategy-wise. And then handing it over to us, as a group of coaches.”
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