Pant's pay cut return to DC exposes ownership inconsistency

Rishabh Pant agreed to take less money to rejoin Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2027 season, moving back after a stint at Lucknow Super Giants. Kuldeep Yadav went the other way as part of the same trade. AB de Villiers didn't hold back, publicly criticising DC's ownership for the wavering approach — describing it as wishy-washy. What stung wasn't just that Pant had to accept a cut. It was that DC's willingness to do it suggested they'd made a mistake letting him go in the first place, and were now scrambling to fix it.