"Only one tension in my mind, that was Punjab...": Pant hilariously recalls watching his IPL mega auction bid

Pant was announced as the captain of LSG on Tuesday ahead of this year's IPL season. The announcement was made on Star Sports during the show 'LSG Special Live', which also featured the franchise owner Dr Sanjiv Goenka.

Speaking on Star Sports, Pant revealed that he watched the mega auction with his skipper Rohit Sharma in Australia and was nervous and tensed throughout.

"We started watching the auction on the phone and it was on roaming. The thought was that we will pay data charges for this (laughs). Rohit bhai had just come in and he said that let us watch it together. We did not know it was coming on TV. We enjoyed on everybody's name (during the auction). I was thinking my name did not come up, was waiting for it. In the first list, my name was last. I was like should I see it or not, then I started watching it with Rohit bhai," said Pant.

"After sometime, I left because pressure was building up. Mentally I told myself I would not watch it after 10-15 crores because tension keeps increasing. There was excitement, nervousness and eventually, there was only one tension in my mind and that was Punjab because the second-highest purse was Rs 82 crores, PBKS had 112 crores in their purse. So in the beginning when Shreyas went there, it was like I could go to LSG. But eventually with the auction, you never know. Sometimes you should just let things happen. I sat with my fingers crossed and watched where would I go," he added.

Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL, being bought by Lucknow Super Giants for a massive Rs 27 crores during the IPL mega auction at Jeddah held in November last year.

He beat compatriot Shreyas Iyer, who had just become the most expensive player in the league's history, going to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 26.75 crores. Iyer had beat Australia's Mitchell Starc, who marked his return to IPL after years with a record-breaking bid of Rs 24.75 crores.

Initially, there was a bidding war between LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), with the latter giving up. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) entered the bidding war, trying to bolster their explosive batting attack and Delhi Capitals (DC) tried to use the 'Right To Match' card, but they could not match the value LSG put for Pant, breaking the bank for him and going beyond Iyer's value.

The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter is an all-format for India and a livewire on the field. Having proven himself as a man for big stages in Test cricket, Pant's T20 game is just as solid. Though he has scored 1,209 runs in 76 T20Is at an underwhelming average of 23.25, a strike rate of almost 128 and just three fifties, his overall T20 numbers are way better, having made 5,022 runs in 202 matches at an average of 31.78, a strike rate of over 145, with two centuries and 25 fifties.

Pant represented Delhi Capitals (DC) for his entire IPL career since 2016, scoring 3,284 runs in 110 matches at an average of 35.31, with a century and 18 fifties. He was appointed as the team's captain in 2021 and led them to playoffs in the same season. (ANI)