Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan has dismissed the swirling rumours that the franchise is interested in signing Rishabh Pant for the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction. The auction is scheduled to take place on November 24-25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and will include several high-profile players, including Pant, who wasn’t retained by the Delhi Capitals.
India's successful T20 World Cup campaign only increased speculation that CSK will pursue Pant. However, reports indicated that CSK might be eyeing wicketkeeper-batter after his omission from Delhi's retention list. Viswanathan, in an interview with former CSK player Ambati Rayudu on Provoke TV, admitted the franchise’s interest but said that the franchise is looking to retain its core players from the previous season.
Viswanathan said we had discussions with Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, and coach Stephen Fleming before finalising our retentions. Pant is an attractive option, but CSK prefers to keep their existing players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shivam Dube, he said. These are the key figures that the team has re-signed, and they have an auction purse of Rs 55 crore.
Retaining these players would limit their ability to compete for big names at the auction, admitted Viswanathan. "We wanted to keep these players, and we knew if we did, we would have a smaller purse to go into the auction." However, he did not completely rule out the possibility of bidding for Pant, saying that competing franchises like Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore would also be keen.
A total of 1,574 registered players will be vying for contracts in the IPL 2025 mega auction, with many marquee names listed at a base price of Rs 2 crore. It will be interesting to see how CSK plays its strategy as fans wait for the auction.
