Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) scripted history in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction by shelling out Rs 27 crore for wicketkeeper-batter RIshabh Pant. Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals (DC) decided not to break the bank for Pant and roped in KL Rahul for Rs 14 crore. Soon after the marquee players players were auctioned off, memes flooded on social media involving Pant and Rahul. One of the viral memes showed Rahul putting an arm around Pant with caption indicating that the salary is good but the boss is toxic.
LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka who was involved in a heated exchange in the last season with Rahul following defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) responded to the meme. Goenka said that he hasn't seen the meme yet and assured he won't be unreasonable.
"Maine meme nahi dekha hai but itna keh sakta hoon ki boss loving bhi hai, caring bhi aur tough bhi. Jab love ki zarurat hoti hai to love deta hai. Jab caring ki zarurat hoti hai to caring bhi deta hain. Aur jab daant ki zarurat hoti hai to daant bhi deta hai (I haven't seen the meme but I can re-affirm that the boss is loving, caring and tough as well. When you need love, he gives you love. When you need care, he cares for you. Similarly, when you need some scolding, he will scold you too)," Goenka said during an interaction on Times Now.
Goenka clarifies raising the bid to Rs 27 crore wasn't about ego
Goenka also clarified that he did not increase Pant's bid to avoid DC using RTM card just to make him the most expensive player. He said that they had a big amount for Pant set aside.
"No no, not at all. Nothing like that at all. This is not about vanity at all. Ego nahi hai[There's no ego here]. I did not have that in mind at all. We had structured the auction in a certain way and Pant was an integral part of our plans. We had done some budgeting for him... This was not about one individual player. It was not about egos. Did we want to have the most expensive player? No. At the end of the day this does not mean very much to the franchise. Eventually it is about performance and how the team balance looks," Goenka was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
"We had a sense that Delhi Capitals will try to exercise RTM. They went up to INR 26.50 crore for Shreyas Iyer and Punjab got him at INR 26.75. That was the budget they had for their No. 1 player. I felt that they will go up to INR 26.75 for Pant too. If I wanted Rishabh, it had to be INR 27 crore," he added.
