New Delhi: India’s star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has decided to leave Delhi Capitals and will be one of the hottest players in the upcoming IPL mega auction. As per the PTI report, A lot of discussions took place between Pant and DC last month but a complicated management structure led to Pant leaving the franchise, which he played for eight years and also captained in three seasons.
As per the same report, DC is in talks with Shreyas Iyer who won the IPL last season with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and also led Delhi Capitals to the final in 2020. The Kolkata-based franchise has decided to release Iyer ahead of the mega auction.
“Once GMR appointed Venugopal Rao as Director of Cricket and Hemang Badani as head coach, the writing was on cards. GMR is also in talks with Shreyas Iyer, under whom the team played its only final in 2020. Iyer is not going to play for KKR,” a source tracking DC’s development told PTI on Wednesday. The current management structure of Delhi Capitals allows each of the co-owners to run the team for two years.
“This is a complicated structure and it would always be counter-productive for a team. So once management came in hands of GMR, they overhauled it completely” the source said. Pant felt hurt after the Kiran Grandhi-led management decided to get rid of the Pant. As per the recent media reports, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings are interested in Pant and might go for him in the upcoming auction.
DC to retain Axar, Stubbs and Kuldeep
As per the Times of India report, Delhi Capitals is set to retain all-rounder Axar Patel, star spinner Kuldeep Yadav, South African batter Tristan Stubbs and uncapped Indian wicket-keeper batter Abishek Porel. Axar and Kuldeep are crucial part of the franchise while Porel joined DC in 2023 as a replacement for Rishabh Pant.
