The deadline to announce the list of retained players by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises is still more than a couple of weeks away but Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant’s late night tweet left a lot to imagination. Pant took to his social media account and asked his fans whether he will be sold or not if he goes into the auction. The star wicketkeeper-batter also asked how much will he get in the mega auction.
Pant tweeted: “If go to the auction. will I be sold or not and for how much ??”
Pant took over the captaincy in IPL 2021 when Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the season due to a shoulder injury. He retained the captaincy role when Iyer returned. Despite missing a season due to an unfortunate car accident, the franchise put their faith in the southpaw to lead the side in the previous edition of the cash-rich tournament as well.
Pant’s captaincy record in IPL
He has led DC in 43 games. DC have won 23, lost 19 whereas one ended in no result under Pant's captaincy. In IPL 2024, they failed to make it into the playoffs. In his debut season as captain, DC dominated in the league stage and finished at the top of the points table. However, they could not make it into the final. They face not finished in top four for the last three seasons.
DC’s probable retentions
If Pant does not end his run with DC, he is likely to be retained for Rs 18 crore ahead of the auction. Alongside him, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Abhishek Porel are a few other players who can be retained by the franchise. They may look to exercise the Right to Match (RTM) card for Jake Fraser-McGurk, Tristan Stubbs, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed or Mukesh Kumar.
Pant’s Test comeback
Pant was in action in the recently concluded two-Test series at home against Bangladesh. He scored a century in the first Test in Chennai. After getting rested for the three-T20I series, he will be back in action when the three-Test series against New Zealand commences on October 16 at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
