Parth Jindal, co-owner of the Delhi Capitals, said that the group attempted to retain Rishabh Pant before to the IPL MEGA auction, but conflicting mindsets hampered their efforts. Jindal said that Pant’s ambition for leadership and team direction did not coincide with the owners’ vision. As a result, he joined Lucknow Super Giants for ₹27 crore, becoming the most expensive player in IPL history. Despite attempts to bridge the divide, Jindal said that the franchise’s long-term goals clashed with Pant’s desire to lead the Indian national team, making his departure unavoidable.

Jindal on Pant’s departure from DC: “We were on different wavelengths”

Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal revealed that the franchise did everything possible to retain Rishabh Pant ahead of the IPL mega auction but the star wicketkeeper batter was on “different wavelengths” on how to operate the team, leading to his departure.

The Capitals did not retain Pant and the left-hander was sold to Lucknow Super Giants in the recent mega auction for Rs 27 crore, becoming the most expensive player in the history of the IPL.

So, what were those points of differences? “It means the way the franchise is to run, the decisions of the franchise, those kinds of things. There were certain expectations that he had and there were certain expectations we had. I can just say that we couldn’t align on these things,” he said.

Jindal also accepted that the expectations of the franchise on leadership role did not match with the idea, which was based on long-term ambition of captaining India, Pant had in his mind.

Jindal said the team management realised that buying back Pant from the auction was an impossible task.

(PTI)