New Delhi. Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal revealed that the franchise tried every possible way to retain Rishabh Pant ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction but the management’s views on team operations with the veteran wicketkeeper batsman remain a different one. Like it wasn’t. The Capitals did not retain Pant in the team and the left-hander was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 27 crore in the recent mega auction. He became the most expensive player in IPL history.
“We had different views on the running of the franchise,” Jindal told ESPNcricinfo. That’s why this (Pant’s separation from the team) happened. It has nothing to do with money.” He said, ”Money has never been an issue for Rishabh. Money was never an issue for us either. I think all three of us (Kiran Grandhi, Jindal and Pant) were not on the same page.” Jindal said, ”He (Pant) finally took a decision. We tried everything, but he had made up his mind to move on.
Asked about the issues of difference, he said, “It is related to the operation of the franchise. We had certain expectations from them and they had certain expectations from us. All I can say is that we could not agree on some things.” Jindal said that the team management had realized that buying Pant back from the auction was an impossible task. “The moment we didn’t retain him, I knew it would be a difficult decision to bring him back,” he said. We used ‘right-to-match’ for him for Rs 20.25 (crore), but then the budget became too high. We were ready to increase it to Rs 22-23 (crore).
