Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant will break Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s record for being the most expensive player in IPL (Indian Premier League) history. Notably, Starc was sold for a whopping INR 24.75 Crore during the IPL 2024 mini-auction as he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Starc surpassed his Australian teammate Pat Cummins’ price of INR 20.50 Crore from the same auction as he was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, Pathan feels Rishabh Pant could well break that record in the upcoming auction as he’s expected to be one of the most sought after players in the bidding event.
“Mitchell Starc’s auction record is in danger. @RishabhPant17 is ready to break it!,” wrote Pathan on his X account.
Pant has been released by Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the upcoming auction as the wicketkeeper batter showed interest in his selling amount at the bidding event through a post late night on his X account.
Big stars up for grabs during IPL 2025 auction
Pant made his IPL debut in 2016 playing for Delhi and has played eight seasons for the franchise since then. Pant was named Emerging Player of the Year in 2018 season having scored 684 runs from 14 matches at an average of 52.61 and a strike rate of 173.60 with one century and five fifties. He’s scored 3284 runs in his IPL career so far at an average of 35.31 and a strike rate of 148.93 with one century and 18 fifties.
Meanwhile, a total of 574 players have been finalized for the IPL auction out of which 208 are from overseas. Along with Pant, several other international stars such as Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and among others are set to go under the hammer during the bidding event.
A total of 204 slots are set to be filled across ten franchises out of which 70 are for overseas players. 81 players have kept their base price of INR 2 crore for the mega auction that is set to be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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