IPL 2025 auction: AB de Villiers predicts if Punjab Kings or RCB will pick Pant; ‘too expensive, all franchises will…’

Ahead of IPL 2025's mega auction, former South Africa cricketer and RCB batter AB de Villiers made a prediction about who would pick Rishabh Pant—Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) or Ricky Ponting-led management at the Punjab Kings.

The bidding war for Rishabh Pant comes after he was released by the Delhi Capitals. De Villiers mentioned that the southpaw could be selected for Punjab due to the strong bond he shares with Ricky Ponting, a connection that was forged during their time together in Delhi.

"I hear you. I think it is incredibly unlikely that RCB will get hold of Rishabh Pant, I think he will be too expensive and all the franchises are going to go for him in the auction. I do feel Punjab Kings spend whatever they can to get him, that's my personal feeling. It's my gut feeling, I feel there is a very tight connection between him and Ricky Ponting," de Villiers said while speaking on his YouTube channel.

The former RCB batter added that while it was highly likely that Punjab Kings would desperately bid for Rishabh Pant in the IPL auction, it would be great if RCB could have Pant. That again, would come at a heavy price, said the former RCB batter.

"I think we are going to see him at Punjab Kings. We'll see what happens, if not, it would be great if RCB could have Rishabh, but I just think, he is going to be too expensive," said de Villiers.

Rishabh Pant carries ‘certain reputation’

The southpaw has been the talk of cricketing circles, and even went on to earn comparisons with legendary batters like Kapil Dev, Sir Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Virender Sehwag after his counter-attacking approach helped India back on track on Day 2 of the final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai.

“The thing with Pant is that he carries a certain reputation - of destroying bowling attacks - and when that is the case, bowlers think ‘if I get it even remotely wrong, he will smash me’. People of carried that kind of a reputation were Viv Richards, Kapil Dev Ian Botham.” said Shastri, who had worked with Pant when the former was the India head coach.