Rishabh Pant was reminded of a joke about the Punjab Kings by the team’s social media handle after Lucknow Super Giants’ eight-wicket defeat to the PBKS on Tuesday night. Pant was the most expensive pick of the Indian Premier League 2025 auction after the Lucknow Super Giants splurged a whopping Rs 27 crore on the wicketkeeper-batter. Meanwhile, Punjab Kings had secured the services of Shreyas Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore, thus making him the second costliest buy in the IPL mega auction.
The IPL 2025 game between Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants thus became a referendum on the two most costliest picks of the IPL auction. And the Punjab Kings social media team, in particular, was chuffed that their skipper had come good with an unbeaten 52 off just 30 balls as the PBKS outfit chased down the target of 172 with 22 balls to spare. In contrast to Iyer, who has been in roaring form this season, Pant has struggled with the bat. The wicketkeeper has managed to score just 17 runs off three innings, with 15 of those coming from one single game. On Tuesday, Pant was dismissed for two runs after a struggle for five balls.
READ MORE: LSG mentor Zaheer Khan slams Lucknow curator after loss: ‘Looked like it was Punjab curator out here’
“Tension toh auction mein hi khatam ho gayi thi (Our tension ended in the IPL auction itself),” posted Punjab Kings on their X handle with a clip of Shreyas Iyer.
𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 toh auction mein hi khatam ho gayi thi! 😉 pic.twitter.com/TnWcg5MxdM
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 1, 2025
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The words were a clear reference to a joke that Pant had made after the IPL auction.
“Mereko andar se ek hi tension tha, woh tha Punjab (I had only one tension in IPL auction, that was Punjab),” Pant had said in an interview with the host broadcaster while seated next to LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka.
Rishabh Pant Literally Cooked Punjab Kings 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/w4F6pds9kd
— 𝐉𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞 (@jod_insane) January 20, 2025
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After the game, experts like Piyush Chawla said that while the price tag was not weighing heavy on Pant’s shoulders, he was in the middle of a batting slump. Chawla said that Pant’s dismissal against Punjab was “particularly disappointing“.
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