New Delhi: Quashing all reports that Rishabh Pant might move out of Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, the wicketkeeper is going to be one of three players to be retained for the upcoming season, according to reports. For the past two days, reports of Pant leaving Delhi Capitals for a possible Chennai Super Kings move have been doing the rounds.
With Sourav Ganguly as the head coach, Pant along with Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are the three names that Delhi Capitals are likely to retain. In fact, the trio played crucial roles in India’s T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados on June 29, beating South Africa in the final.
Pant has been with the franchise since 2016 when he was picked by them in the auction held on the day he scored 111 off 96 balls for India in the 197-run win over Namibia in the U-19 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangladesh.
Since then, Pant has become a mainstay of Delhi Capitals, amassing 3284 runs in 111 games, averaging 35.31 at a strike rate of 148.93, including smashing a century and 18 fifties, earning him a huge following from the franchise’s fan base. Pant, who’s captained the side in IPL 2021, 2022, and 2024, has also taken 75 catches and effected 38 stumpings as a wicketkeeper for DC, who’s searching for a new head coach post-Ricky Ponting’s departure from the role.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that KL Rahul could be moving to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), with sources adding that the talk around it is in a ‘very initial stage’ currently and ‘you never know what can happen in future’. Rahul has been leading LSG since their maiden IPL appearance in 2022, but in 2024, the side finished in seventh position in the points table.
Rahul has represented RCB in 2013 and 2016, with his second stint with the franchise yielding 397 in 14 innings, including four half-centuries, as the side ended runners-up that year. Sources claim that RCB is keen on having a local face in their team, as well as having a player who can also take up the leadership mantle for the coming cycle -– both of which Rahul can handle presently.
