Rishabh Pant took a massive pay cut of ₹12 crore after two underwhelming seasons as the Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) captain and Delhi Capitals (DC) wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav were involved in a high-profile trade off completed on Tuesday (June 23, 2026). Pant returns to the Delhi Capitals for ₹15 crore. The LSG had acquired his services for a whopping ₹27 crore, highest ever in the history of the league, in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025.

Incidentally, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka back in the day, had claimed that the deal with Pant will be a long-term one but only after two disappointing seasons, the LSG owners with tacit support from Australian heavy coaching staff (Justin Langer and Tom Moody) decided on releasing the flamboyant keeper-batter.

In an expected trade-off, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav went from the Capitals to LSG at his existing fee of ₹13.50 crore. Pant will now reconnect with the franchise for whom he had played 111 matches between 2016 and 2024, before leaving to take part in the auction. He was also their skipper between 2021 and 2024, guiding them in 43 matches. However, his stint with the LSG was well below par both in the leadership role as well as a wicketkeeper batter.

The Super Giants ended up at seventh on the IPL 2025 table with six wins and eight defeats, while IPL 2026 panned out to be even worse. The Pant-led outfit finished at the bottom of the 10-team league with a mere eight points from four wins and 10 losses.

As a batter, the left-hander made just 269 runs from 14 matches in 2025, while this season he amassed 312 runs with just one fifty. Kuldeep, who took 72 wickets in 65 matches for DC since joining them for IPL 2022 from KKR, also experienced a modest run in IPL 2026. The spinner could only take 10 wickets from 14 matches, while conceding runs at 10.30 an over.