Rishabh Pant made history as the most expensive player in IPL auction history during the 2025 mega auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday. The Indian wicketkeeper-batter was signed by the Lucknow Super Giants for an astonishing ₹27 crore.

Earlier, the Delhi Capitals exercised its RTM (Right to Match) card at ₹20.75 crore to retain Pant, but Lucknow responded by raising the bid to Rs 27 crore, forcing DC to withdraw.

With this record-breaking signing, Pant surpassed the mark set moments earlier by Shreyas Iyer, who was picked up by the Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore.

Shashwat Goenka, LSG, said: “No matter how much you plan, things don’t always work out like that. This (getting Pant for Rs 27 crore) was very well to our plan. It wasn’t really a magic number; we just wanted a number so that the RTM doesn’t get exercised.”