Kingmaker IPL finds a new muse in Rishabh Pant: Will LSG's big-money punt pay off?

IPL Auction 2025: 'Doosron ki madad karne se pehle, kripya apni kursi ki peti thik se baandh lijiye ' is a common in-flight announcement, which frankly a frequent traveller must have been bored of by now yet doesn't have any other option but to put up with it. It is big punt they have put on him and the defending champions will hope that Iyer plays with the reaffirmation of how much KKR wanted him back rather than the pressure of the price tag Hence, you saw the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh and KL Rahul, four marquee Indian players among others, three of them being captains of their respective franchises choosing to put their names up for auction rather than getting retained was probably the watershed moment for the IPL. Image Source : IPL/INDIA TVMost expensive players in IPL 2025 It's interesting that we talk about Rahul in that regard that he hasn't been able to play to his full potential in T20 cricket in the past half a decade and this statement stands true for Rishabh Pant as well, who may have been splashed with a lot of cash but now will have the pressure to prove Sanjiv Goenka, Zaheer Khan, Justin Langer and prove them right and justify their wager on him. Image Source : INDIA TV/BCCI/IPLRishabh Pant's salary steady rise from 2016 to 2025 There have been enough and more examples, whether it was Ben Stokes after the 2018 mega auction or Chris Morris in 2021, being the highest-priced player in an IPL auction until that point or Mitchell Starc last year, who till the playoffs had become a liability for KKR rather than an asset before justifying his price tag in the knockouts as his Australian mindset came to the fore. Image Source : IPL/INDIA TVMost expensive players in the last few IPL auctions It was in 2022 when Pant had mentioned that he would like to open in T20 cricket.