Rishabh Pant denies leaving Delhi Capitals for money: 'My retention wasn’t about the money'

Rishabh Pant has finally broken silence on not being retained by the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2205 players auction. Pant was not retained by Delhi Capitals even though he had captained the franchise in three out of the last four seasons since IPL 2021 and was seen as one of their main batters. The decision shocked everyone and while some felt that maybe DC didn’t want to retain Pant by paying a hefty fee, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter has revealed that his exclusion from Delhi's retention list had nothing to do with money.

“My retention wasn’t about the money for sure that I can say.” Pant wrote on social media channel X in reply to a video posted by IPL broadcasters Star Sports.

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Rishabh Pant breaks silence after Sunil Gavaskar’s comments

In the video, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar could be seen talking about how DC will go back for Pant in the auction and speculating that they probably decided to part ways before the retention deadline due to salary matters.

“Delhi would certainly want Rishabh Pant back in the squad. Sometimes when a player is to be retained, there is talk between the player and franchise about the fees that is expected. As you can see, some of the players who have been retained by the franchise, they’ve gone for more than what the No. 1 retention fee would’ve been. Maybe there was some disagreement over there (fees),” Gavaskar analysed.

“My feeling is Delhi would definitely want Pant back because they need a captain as well. If Rishabh Pant is not in their squad then they have to look for a new captain.”

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My retention wasn’t about the money for sure that I can say 🤍

— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) November 19, 2024

It must be noted that multiple reports have already stated that DC did not retain Pant primarily because they were not sure about his T20 credentials. They also didn’t see him as their captain for IPL 2025 and this was not acceptable to Pant, who has scored 3284 runs in 111 IPL matches at a strike rate of 148.93.

Also Read | DC Retention: Capitals retain players with immense potential, likely to target Iyer

Why Rishabh Pant leave DC?

“Rishabh Pant wanted captaincy, wanted to be involved with regards to appointment of coaches and support staff but plenty in the DC set-up are not convinced about his T20 game. It wasn’t that they wanted to let him go, but they were clear that they didn’t see him leading the side. And that decision wasn’t an overnight one,” a source told the Times of India before the IPL retention deadline.

Also Read | Delhi Capitals IPL 2025: Full list of retained and released players

One of the major reasons behind DC management not backing Pant was the change in the leadership structure. DC are co-owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports and currently the former are in charge of the men’s team for the next two IPL seasons. While JSW and co-owner Parth Jindal were big supporters of Pant, the GMR group wants to have a new captain at the helm.