What Pay Cut Would Pant Accept To Send Kuldeep From Delhi To Lucknow Before IPL 2027?

Rishabh Pant is set to take a ₹12 crore pay cut to join Delhi Capitals, dropping from ₹27 crore to ₹15 crore, with Kuldeep Yadav heading the other way in the most significant inter-franchise swap ahead of IPL 2027. The trade isn’t officially confirmed yet, but sources close to both camps say the paperwork is the only thing left to settle.

DC’s Cap Problem Made This Inevitable

Delhi had no viable path to signing Pant at his full ₹27 crore price. Their 2025 mega-auction retentions locked up ₹43.75 crore across four players before the 2026 season even started: Axar Patel at ₹16.5 crore, Kuldeep at ₹13.25 crore, Tristan Stubbs at ₹10 crore, and Abhishek Porel at ₹4 crore. Factor in multi-year salary commitments across the wider squad and DC’s total cap usage had climbed to approximately ₹98.20 crore, a figure reported by Sportscafe based on current contracts rather than the original four-player retention alone.

When the 2026 mini-auction came around, DC entered with just ₹21.8 crore in hand and spent virtually all of it. ESPNcricinfo’s auction tracker confirmed they finished with ₹0.04 crore in reserve. That’s four lakh rupees. Pant returning at the market rate was never on the table. The only way DC could afford him was through a trade that simultaneously reduced their outgoing salary liability, and Kuldeep’s ₹13.25 crore contract made him the natural chip.

Pant Kuldeep Trade IPL 2027

The financial structure confirmed is designed so neither side bleeds cap space. Pant moves to DC at ₹15 crore, down ₹12 crore from his LSG salary. Kuldeep moves to LSG at his existing ₹13.25 crore retained rate. Because LSG absorbs a lower salary than they’re releasing, their overall purse increases by ₹13.75 crore, giving them room to reinvest.

It is true that Rishabh-Kuldeep swap via trade is happening, and both franchises are busy with it. Both sides are still wrapping up the administrative details, with BCCI ratification the remaining procedural step. No official statement has come from DC, LSG, or the board. Reports from TOI and journalist Mufaddal Vohra suggest KL Rahul could become DC’s next captain once Pant departs, though that is also unconfirmed.

Why LSG Wanted Pant Gone

Two seasons as LSG captain produced a record that speaks for itself: 10 wins and 18 losses, a seventh-place finish in 2025, and a bottom-of-the-table finish in 2026. His batting wasn’t the problem in isolation. He scored 269 runs across 14 innings in 2025 at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 133.17, with a highest score of 118 not out. In 2026, he improved slightly: 312 runs in 14 matches, average 28.36, strike rate 138.05, one half-century.

The numbers aren’t alarming for a batter of his calibre, but they weren’t justifying ₹27 crore while the team finished last. A captain is judged by what the team does, and LSG finished at or near the bottom in both seasons he led them. They spent at the top of the market and got a team that couldn’t string results together. That’s the calculation they’ve moved on from.

Kuldeep’s 72 Wickets Say Everything

Kuldeep’s 2026 season looked underwhelming on paper: 10 wickets at an average of around 50.28 entering the final game. But he closed the season with 3/29 against KKR in that last fixture, a reminder of what he can produce when the conditions suit him. Since joining DC in 2022, he has taken 72 wickets in 65 matches at an economy rate of 8.24. That’s not a bowler in decline; that’s a bowler who quietly gets through his overs and takes wickets across four seasons in one of the harder formats for spinners to operate in.

For LSG, adding him means they get a wrist-spinner with franchise experience and a proven long-term record, without having to buy him through the auction. He also offers variety in the bowling attack that LSG have lacked when conditions don’t suit pace. The Pant Kuldeep trade in IPL 2027 gives LSG a meaningful bowling asset while freeing them of a captain who couldn’t get the team out of the bottom half.