Since the news of Rishabh Pant‘s release from Delhi Capitals broke, a number of franchises have started to circle around the sought-after wicket-keeper batter. Pant’s release into the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction pool left quite a few surprised but the development has also made the fans of a few franchises quite optimistic. One of the franchises that has been strongly linked with a move for the Delhi lad is Chennai Super Kings. However, the pursuit of Rishabh Pant, arguably the most natural MS Dhoni successor, looks a little difficult for the franchise.

CSK decided to retain the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, and MS Dhoni ahead of the auction, leaving themselves with just one Right To Match card to use in the bidding war. In all likelihood, CSK will use the RTM option for opening batter Devon Conway.

However, with only INR 55 crore left in the purse to splash, a report in the Times of India states that it might become difficult for CSK to go all-in on Pant, who is likely to cost a fee in the region of INR 25 crore in the auction.

Pant arguably remains the most lucrative option in the IPL auction for franchises to buy. Those in the know believe the wicket-keeper batter is expected to be sold for a fee in the region of INR 25 crore and 30 crore. The Super Kings still have a lot of bases to cover. Hence, spending such an astronomical fee for Pant might not be in the franchise’s best interest, from the perspective of balance.

If the bidding war does go to this stage, one of Punjab Kings, Lucknow Super Giants or Royal Challengers Bengaluru stand a better chance at signing the player as they have a bigger purse to spend.

PBKS have the biggest purse balance of all, at Rs 110.5 crore, having only retained two uncapped players. RCB, at Rs 83 crore and LSG at Rs 69 crore, are the next in line with the biggest purse to spend in the auction. Gujarat Titans, with INR 69 crore left to spend, could also be in the race to sign Pant.

The report also claims that a CSK homecoming could be on the cards for Ravichandran Ashwin, who was released by the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the auction. The spinner had spoken of his dream of playing for his home franchise one more time. The dream could be fulfilled this auction.