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PlayersLSG boss Sanjiv Goenka reveals his 'last conversation' with Rishabh Pant before parting ways with the cricketer
Sanjiv Goenka spills the beans on his ‘last conversation’ with Rishabh Pant before he was traded by the Lucknow Super Giants.
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Rishabh Pant’s time with Lucknow Super Giants lasted two seasons. Picked for a record-breaking sum of ₹27.4 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction, Pant departed from the franchise after two unsuccessful years, which saw LSG finish seventh and 10th, respectively. Pant himself flattered to deceive, scoring 581 runs in 28 matches across the two seasons.
With things falling apart, the inevitable happened shortly after the conclusion of IPL 2026, when the franchise officially announced that Pant and LSG had mutually decided to part ways. The association appeared to have ended on a cordial note, with owner Sanjiv Goenka now revealing his ‘last conversation’ with Pant and adding a pleasant surprise.
“I said good luck and best wishes, but our last conversation wasn’t only till the contract. We even spoke after that. We have planned to have dinner together sometime. I’m very fond of Rishabh. He has innocence. We will jump out of anywhere and grab you. He will play a prank or something,” he said on the Shubhankar Mishra podcast.
That the IPL’s costliest superstar went his way after just two seasons comes with a pinch of salt. It was a whopping sum for one of India’s greatest cricketing entertainers. In between, rumours erupted that Goenka and Pant did not see eye to eye, with some tense visuals of the two, similar to the infamous KL Rahul incident, emerging after the match.
Goenka was vilified on social media, whereas he insists that he is anything but stern. Looking back at the whole deal, whether spending ₹27.5 crore on Pant was the right call in hindsight depends on how one looks at it.
“It’s all very subjective and situation-based. When we paid ₹15 crore for Ben Stokes, it was considered expensive. Was it worth it or not? If you succeed, it pays off. If not, it doesn’t. Rishabh Pant obviously packs a punch. I have always shared a good relationship with Rishabh. People said a lot of things,” he added.
Pant returned to his home franchise of the Delhi Capitals, taking a massive pay cut of ₹12 crore, while LSG acquired the services of wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
