DC co-owner Parth Jindal: Rishabh Pant has expressed desire to lead India amid captaincy speculation

In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Jindal revealed that it was a divergence in ideology that resulted in Pant's departure from Delhi Capitals after nine seasons with the franchise, during which he captained the team in three seasons. Jindal, who serves as the managing director of JSW Cements, reiterated that financial matters were not the primary reason for Pant's decision, a sentiment echoed by Pant himself in a viral tweet addressing speculation raised by former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar.

He said: “It was just a different philosophy of how he wanted the franchise to operate and how we--the owners--wanted the franchise to operate. That is what caused it. It has nothing to do with money. Money has never been an issue for Rishabh, and money's never been an issue for us. I guess the three of us (Kiran Grandhi, Jindal, and Pant) were on different wavelengths. He took a call at the end of it. We tried everything, but he decided eventually that it was time to move on.”

Jindal said that the split was "devasting" for him. "I love the boy like my own brother. He took a call at the end of the day. We tried our best. He made the decision, and we have to respect it," he added.

However, he admitted that the much-speculated captaincy reason was not why Pant left Delhi Capitals. Jindal revealed that the management had given him a feedback on his captaincy and how he could improve after he made it clear that his goal is to lead the Indian cricket team.

"We gave him some feedback regarding leadership. We suggested ways he could improve, but we were quite clear about his ambitions. We know where he wants to go. He has made it amply clear that his dream and desire is to captain India, and that starts with captaining an IPL team," he concluded.

Pant, who was named among the prospects to replace Rohit Sharma as a captain when the latter was announced as the all-format India skipper two years back, has led India in five T20I matches, in 2022, which had ended in a 2-2 draw.