AB de Villiers on Rishabh Pant's Return to Delhi Capitals, IPL 2027 Changes

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has said he was not surprised by Rishabh Pant's return to Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2027, pointing to signs of frustration during Pant's time with Lucknow Super Giants. Pant returned to Delhi Capitals in a trade involving Kuldeep Yadav, ending a two-season stint with LSG and rejoining the franchise where he began his IPL career in 2016. The move also saw Pant take a significant pay cut, with his salary dropping from the IPL-record Rs 27 crore he earned at LSG to Rs 15 crore at DC. Speaking about the move, de Villiers said there were already indications that Pant was unhappy during his time in Lucknow. "No surprises there after the season they’ve had and looking at some of his post-match interviews, there were already signs of him being frustrated and maybe the frustration is coming from the ownership and coaching staff as well. So he is returning back to DC," De Villiers said. LSG finished at the bottom of the table during the season, and Pant had repeatedly spoken about "too many voices" in the dressing room, though he never directly referred to the franchise's big support staff. Pant's return comes at a time when Delhi Capitals are set for changes off the field as well. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is expected to join as director of cricket, while Yuvraj Singh is likely to take over as batting coach. The changes are linked to the franchise's ownership arrangement, with JSW taking charge of team operations for the next two years under its agreement with co-owners GMR Group. De Villiers questioned whether so many changes at the same time would help the franchise. "I feel it is a bit wishy-washy, doing this whole ownership change, the coaching staff comes and goes, it’s really difficult for players to react to that and have a positive mindset with all these changes taking place. It can be confusing and there is no doubt about that," he said. The former batter also pointed to the timing of Pant's move back to Delhi. "It is also interesting how Pant skipped the two-year GMR cycle. JSW coming back in now, we’ll see how they go with their two-year ownership. All confusing, you know, I am not a big fan of that," he added. De Villiers felt Pant's reduced salary could ease some pressure on him and help him perform better than he did during his time with LSG. However, he remained uncertain about Delhi Capitals' overall direction. "With the whole ownership model, coaching staff changes, I don’t see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for DC," he said.