IPL: Here's why Rishabh Pant decided to leave Delhi Capitals

As flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's nine-year association with Delhi Capitals officially ended on Thursday, a report has revealed some eye-opening reasons behind his decision to leave the franchise.

As per a PTI report, Pant, more than money, was not happy about his powers being curbed by GMR, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, who will run the show for the next two years.

He was also, it is learnt, not happy with Hemang Badani as head coach and Y Venugopal Rao as Team Director, the report said.

The ownership structure of Delhi Capitals is a complicated one with co-owners GMR and JSW getting powers to control management for two years at a time. Hence Pant, who is a JSW recruit, wasn't the top choice for GMR management.

A report also stated that moment GMR took charge, they removed earlier coaching management including former Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly and brought in Venugopal Rao.

Discussions over the last month didn't yield any result and Pant didn't want to work with unfamiliar coaching staff thrust on him by the new management, the report added.

Meanwhile, Pant could well emerge as the highest paid player of Indian Premier League if Punjab Kings, known for breaking banks every two years while shopping for a new captain and 'X-factor', decide to go for him.

“Rishabh's real bidding will start from Rs 20 crore onwards. There will be three teams who can afford to bid big for him. One is Punjab Kings with Rs 110.5 crore in its kitty. They need a new captain and a brand. RCB has Rs 83 crore and LSG have Rs 69 crore and they also need a new captain,” a top official of a franchise told PTI.

The industry insiders expect Pant to get anything between Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore. — with PTI