The Indian star wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant went big as Lucknow Supergiants roped him for a massive INR 27 core, and Sanjib Goenka clarifies that there was no ego fight and it was a part of their plan. Pant broke Mitchell Starc's record, becoming the highest-paid player in IPL history. Initially, it was a paddle fight between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and LSG, unless the amount reached INR 20.75 crore. Later, Delhi Capitals used their right-to-match card, but LSG increased the amount to INR 27 crore, and DC backed off. Pant was an integral part of their plan: Goenka. Previously, Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of LSG, remarked that the amount paid to Rishabh Pant was "slightly up." However, in a recent interview with Cricbuzz, they had already planned for him and were not way fighting to get the "expensive player." He said, "No no, not at all. Nothing like that at all. This is not about vanity at all. Ego nahi hai [There's no ego here]. I did not have that in mind at all. We had structured the auction in a certain way and Pant was an integral part of our plans. We had done some budgeting for him." He also disclosed his auction plan, saying they had planned to get two Indian fast bowlers. He said that, even though they missed Buvneshwar Kumar, they managed to get Avesh Khan and Akash Deep within a pretty decent total of INR 17.75 crore. Pant was LSG's biggest purchase; there comes Avesh Khan receiving INR 9.75 crore and Akash Deep for INR 8 crore) as their second and third highest. Also Read | IPL 2025: Full Squad List of All 10 Teams After Mega Auction Lucknow Super Giants Squad for IPL 2025 LSG had retained six players, naming Nicholas Pooran (Rs. 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs. 11 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs. 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (Rs. 4 crore), and Ayush Badoni (Rs. 4 crore). Thereafter, they bought 19 players during the two-day auction they got: Rishabh Pant (Rs. 27 crore), David Miller (Rs. 7.5 crore), Aiden Markram (Rs. 2 crore), Mitchell Marsh (Rs. 3.40 crore), Avesh Khan (Rs. 9.75 crore), Abdul Samad (Rs. 4.20 crore), Aryan Juyal (Rs. 30 lakh), Akash Deep (Rs. 8 crore), Himmat Singh (Rs. 30 lakh), M. Siddharth (Rs. 75 lakh), Digvesh Singh (Rs. 30 lakh), Shahbaz Ahmed (Rs. 2.40 crore), Akash Singh (Rs. 30 lakh), Shamar Joseph (Rs. 75 lakh), Prince Yadav (Rs. 30 lakh), Yuvraj Chaudhary (Rs. 30 lakh), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (Rs. 30 lakh), Arshin Kulkarni (Rs. 30 lakh), and Matthew Breetzke (Rs. 75 lakh).