Was LSG's purchase of Pant for ₹27 crore an epic auction blunder?

Rishabh Pant is 27 years old, but that is not the '27' people correlate with him. It is the infamous INR 27 crore bid where the mind automatically goes when he steps out for the toss, keeps wickets, or steps out to bat. Nine matches into his LSG career, Pant has five wins and four losses as captain, and 106 runs to his name, neither justifying the record pay cheque.

Right from the moment that the hammer went down at the auction, it was evident that the Pant project would not be a middling ride; it would be just extremities. So far, it has started from the bottom, with no signs of a potential rise. Is it justified to call it an 'epic auction blunder' from LSG already, or is more time needed to make an informed call?

On that note, let us take a look at all potential angles surrounding LSG and their INR 27 crore splurge on Rishabh Pant during the IPL 2025 mega auction.

#1 The writing was on the wall, LSG just did not see it.

Nearly everyone going into the auction had a feeling that Rishabh Pant might be the most expensive acquisition. All of the mock auctions and analyses projected a bid close to INR 30 crore, and that proved to be true at the event in Jeddah. But, the unpredictable bit was LSG making the winning bid.

LSG needed a wicket-keeper and a captain after releasing KL Rahul during the off-season, and Rishabh Pant was a good enough fit for their side on paper. But two key factors made the potential acquisition impractical from LSG's perspective. One was their purse of INR 69 crore after the big name retentions, and the other was Rishabh Pant's unconvincing T20 numbers over the last couple of years, and his shaky captaincy credentials.

The wicket-keeper did have a decent IPL 2024 season for DC, and was Team India's first-choice wicket-keeper for the 2024 T20 World Cup, but it was not as if he had stamped his authority. The doubters had their concerns from the get-go.

The alarm bells for Pant in T20 cricket had arguably begun when he was benched for Dinesh Karthik in the 2022 T20 World Cup. He needed something very strong to come back from that, but that set of performances never came. His last T20I fifty came over three years ago. He played 25 T20I matches in 2022 and 10 T20I matches in 2024, his average for those years reads 21.41 and 27.75, respectively, far from compelling.

Judging by India's talent pool, Pant is arguably India's third or fourth choice wicket-keeper at the moment, with so many prospective candidates ahead of him. Is someone like that worth such a heavy price tag purely based on potential?

Although he had a strike rate of over 150 against spin in IPL 2022, the numbers dipped below 120 in 2021 and 2024. Is that ideal for your first-choice middle-order, and backbone of the batting unit?

The other concerns stem from his captaincy. Although he pipped Iyer for the role in DC's power struggle in 2021, there has not been a compelling case to suggest that he is a shrewd captain. Sloppy decision-making was a constant theme in his reign as DC skipper.

Considering his record from IPL 2022 onwards, which is when DC had Pant completely at the helm after the mega auction and the rebuild, the win percentage is not appealing. In two seasons, he has a win percentage hovering around the 50 percent mark, with no playoff action to show for it.

LSG considered brand value and potential over track record, which was a bold call right from the outset. Their fortunes may turn around, but at the moment, the way things stand, they do not have anyone else to blame but themselves.

#2 Returns are hardly ever proportional to investment

If you look at it, an auction is not that far from gambling. A lot of what happens are part of well-calculated moves that pay off in the short run or the long run, but on the flip side, a lot of it works on hope and faith, that it pays off. Sometimes, a base price signing works out in ways unimaginable, and at certain times, breaking the bank does not reap the rewards as intended.

Now, if Pant had had a gem of a season, with the bat, the gloves, and as captain, there would be no question that the price tag would have been unanimously glorified. There would have been praise for the LSG management for going all in against the odds. The reason why they had to shell out extra money would also have been accepted, because of the end result. At the end of the day, it is all outcome based.

But, it is the exact opposite that is transpiring here. Critics have been loud ever since LSG made the record bid, and Pant's failures are only making them even louder. There is no chart or extrapolation to correlate a player's price tag with his returns. The money involved is just a transaction outside the on-field bubble, and ideally it should not have any bearing on performances.

LSG were hell-bent on getting Pant at the auction, with the reason being that they are in it for the long haul.

#3 Is half a season a fair time frame to justify or not justify a price tag?

Speaking of long haul, the mega auction's purpose is to set a team for a three-year period. The heavy purse and the talent available in the player pool allow franchises to shape their squad in such a fashion.

It holds true for LSG and Pant as well, who are both looking for something long-term in a new direction. LSG needed an icon, a brand, a leader to usher them into the post-KL Rahul era.

On the other hand, Pant was also on the lookout for a fresh start after some friction with DC. In that regard, they are the right fit for each other on paper. But what hurts their case currently is a lack of return from Pant's end, and how the price tag hampered the rest of the squad in terms of prowess.

As long as everyone is one the same page, there is no way any party will pull the plug even if the worst transpires in the season. Largely because they have envisioned a plan for three years, and Pant is the nucleus. Halfway through the tournament, there are cracks on display, but they still trust their foundation, which is their long-term plan.

In Pant's defence, half a season is indeed way too short a time frame to judge, and there is always room for a comeback, especially when the management still bestows its faith. But what works against Pant here is that his poor returns in IPL 2025 are not an anomaly, but just an echo of his recent T20 performances.

#4 LSG may have compromised their squad strength by going too hard for Pant

Teams always have to sacrifice something when it comes to big-money signings, particularly during the mega auction, when there are just so many spots to fill. Another fact about big money signings is that teams often have to stick their neck out, go over their projected bid to land the player.

The extra money, which was originally intended to strengthen another department, suffers. In LSG's case, after they spent a huge chunk of their purse on Pant, they had to be stingy to complete their squad.

Auction dynamics and other factors are usually relevant factors, but they cannot be used to defend LSG's strategy. Particularly because Sanjiv Goenka admitted that they had set aside close to INR 30 crores, that is nearly 43.4 percent of their budget, on Rishabh Pant, a single player.

What truly took a beating was LSG's bowling unit. With Shamar Joseph as their sole overseas bowler, and no decent backup for their injury-prone all-Indian pace attack, it was inevitable that things would go wrong. They had to bring in Shardul Thakur as a replacement for Mohsin Khan, which, as the tournament progresses, is looking like the shortest ever short-term fix.

LSG had to rely on their youngsters on the bench right from the start, which is usually a last-resort move for many franchises. There is an immense disparity between the batting and bowling, a major over-reliance on Pooran and Marsh, making up an altogether unstable unit. This is making life even harder for Pant - the captain, and more pressure is the last thing he needs.

Now, could LSG have taken their foot off the pedal for Pant, and used that money to rope in names that could have benefitted the side in terms of balance and depth? Perhaps, yes. The kind of money LSG splashed on Pant, nothing short of an IPL trophy or an Orange Cap, will ever justify it.