A man was incomes ₹27 crore and can earn solely 15 now

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that Rishabh Pant has taken a massive pay cut as part of his trade from the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to the Delhi Capitals (DC). He highlighted that most people are unable to earn as much in their entire life.

Pant, who was bought by LSG for ₹27 crore at the IPL 2025 auction, was traded to DC for ₹15 crore. The Lucknow-based franchise got Kuldeep Yadav for his existing fee of ₹13.50 crore in return.

Reflecting on the development in a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter pointed out that Pant‘s remuneration has been drastically reduced.

“If you were thinking about pay cuts, layoffs, and limited job opportunities in your life, just think about Rishabh Pant. A guy was earning ₹27 crore and will earn only 15 now. One gets slightly surprised while saying only 15, but only 15 because he was at ₹27 crore. It means a pay cut of ₹12 crore. People are not able to earn as much in their entire life,” he said.

Chopra opined that LSG have benefited more from the trade deal as they were unable to find an ideal position for Pant in their batting lineup.

“I genuinely feel that Lucknow have benefited more. Their batting order wasn’t getting settled because all four of their overseas players were batters, and then among the Indian batters, they had Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni, and Mukul Choudhary. So you weren’t able to bat him before No. 5, and if they tried to bat him before No. 5, an overseas batter had to go down, and the combination was not getting set,” he observed.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the former LSG skipper didn’t perform well as a leader or batter either.

“If I look at it from that perspective, they were not losing much by releasing him. The performance over the last two years hasn’t been good either. He was made the captain with the expectation that the team would do well. If both years didn’t go well, as a batter, you don’t miss, and as a captain, there is nothing to write home about,” Chopra elaborated.

Aakash Chopra opined that the Lucknow Super Giants could even consider releasing either Nicholas Pooran or Aiden Markram and bringing in someone else. He added that Kuldeep Yadav‘s acquisition is great news for LSG, highlighting that they needed an Indian spinner.

“I am still intrigued as to where he would bat” – Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant moving to DC

In the same video, Aakash Chopra wondered where the Delhi Capitals would accommodate Rishabh Pant in their batting order.

“From Delhi’s point of view, I am still intrigued as to where he would bat because they have many opening options, Nitish Rana had started doing well at No. 3, and then they have a good middle order in Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Sameer Rizvi, and Ashutosh Sharma,” he said.

The analyst pointed out that DC didn’t have a middle-order issue that would be resolved by acquiring Pant.

“Have they solved a problem that was troubling them a lot? I am not 100 percent certain. They will gain because of Rishabh Pant going there, but was the year not good because of a middle-order batter? I don’t think it’s that straightforward,” Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra also wondered how the Delhi Capitals would get a replacement for Kuldeep Yadav. He pointed out that a spinner like Kuldeep is a rare commodity, unless DC have seen someone in domestic cricket, just like the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) got Shivang Kumar.