'No surprises...': AB de Villiers reveals the real reason behind Rishabh Pant's Delhi Capitals reunion

In a series of surprising events, former Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant has been traded back to Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2027 season at a revised fee of Rs 15 crore. After spending two underwhelming seasons both as a player and captain Rishabh Pant had to make a U-turn in his IPL career despite joining LSG as the most expensive player in the history of the tournament.

Big change in Rishabh Pant's career

Now, it seems that the hefty investment on Pant was not worth it, as he failed to deliver on big occasions and remained out form for majority part of his two-year stay at the Lucknow-based franchise. Pant could not lead the team to success as a captain as LSG finished seventh and 10th in the 2025 and 2026 seasons respectively.

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Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru star AB de Villiers, who also represented DC during 2008-10 has revealed the real reason why Pant made a surprising return to his former side. While reacting to the situation on his official YouTube Channel, de Villiers claimed that there were visible signs of Pant getting frustrated during the post-match interviews.

“No surprises there after the season they've had and looking at some of his post-match interviews, there were already signs of him being frustrated. So he is returning back to DC," said AB de Villiers.

Rishabh Pant's stats for DC in IPL

Before his two-year stint with LSG, Pant enjoyed a strong career while representing DC between 2016 and 2024 editions, where he established himself as a prolific T20 run-scorer and became one of the poster boys of the franchise.

The star left-handed batter managed to amass 3,284 runs in just 111 outings at an average of 35.31 with an aggressive strike rate of 148.93 for the Delhi-based franchise. He registered his best score of unbeaten 128.

Rishabh Pant's underwhelming stint with LSG

After becoming the most expensive player of IPL in the 2025 edition, there were a lot of expectations from Pant, but things did not turn out in his favor as he endured a challenging maiden season with the Lucknow-based franchise. 

In the 2025 season, Pant managed to gather 269 runs at an average of 24.45 with a strike rate of 133.17, including one half century and one century. He recorded his best score of 118 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). While the story continued to be the same in the 2026 edition, Pant failed to make a strong comeback with the bat.

In 13 innings, the left-handed batter amassed only 312 runs at an average of just 28.36 with the strike rate of 138.05, consisting of only one half-century.