After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the retention rules for the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction, eyes are on some of India's top players as fans wait to find out whether they are set to change teams in thet 18th edition of the league.
Rishabh Pant is one player that has the attention of the cricket fraternity after rumours linking him with a move to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for months. While Pant took to X(formerly known as Twitter) to slam a report on him approaching the Benglauru-based franchise, the CSK question remained unanswered.
Pant's close freindship with CSK legend MS Dhoni is well documented which sparked the links to the five-time champions. While an update on Dhoni's return for IPL 2025 is still awaited, it is no secret that CSK need a top quality wicket-keeper batter as a long-term replacement for their former captain and Pant seemed as the ideal replacement.
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Delhi Captials owner Parth Jindal cleared the air over Pant's future and confirmed that the franchise will retain him. He also named Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Porel, Jake Fraser-Mcgurk, Tristan Stubbs, Mukesh Kumar, and Khaleel Ahmed as others players the franchise could keep on their books.
"Yes, we definitely have to retain. We have some very good players in our team. The rules have just come out, so after discussing with GMR and our director of cricket, Sourav Ganguly, decisions will be made. Rishabh Pant will definitely be retained.
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"We also have Axar Patel, who is excellent, Criston Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, all very good players in our team. We'll see what happens in the auction. But first, as per the rule, we can retain six players. After discussions, we will proceed with the auction and see what happens," said Jindal while addressing the media at a recent event as quoted by IANS.
Pant is among the rare one-club stars in the IPL having only played for Delhi Captials (DC) in his career. The 26-year-old joned the franchise in 2016 and was retained ahead of the 2018 and 2022 mega auction. He was appointed captain of the Delhi-based outfit in 2021.