KL Rahul and Sanjeev Goenka discussion: No change in captaincy in LSG, says assistant coach Lance Klusener

There has been a lot of brouhaha over an animated discussion between Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul and team owner Sanjeev Goenka after LSG lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 wickets last week. Speculations were rife about how the team owner was unhappy with the way the team was drubbed, while many even authored captaincy change talks in the LSG set-up.

However, LSG assistant coach Lance Klusener downplayed all of those theories and said there are neither captaincy chance discussions nor a rift in the set-up. “No, certainly no discussions around a captaincy change. I don’t see any problem with some robust discussion between two cricket lovers (referring to the animated chat between Rahul and Goenka). I don’t see any problem with that. For us, I guess, it is just a storm in a teacup. We love a robust discussion, I think that’s how teams get better. So, it is not a big thing for us,” Klusener said on the eve of LSG’s must-win match against Delhi Capitals.

LSG are currently placed seventh on the points table with 12 points after playing 12 matches. The team faces the Delhi Capitals and then the Mumbai Indians in their last two matches and would need to win both of their games for a passage into the play-offs.

What compounds the tough ask for Rahul’s army is that their net run rate is at an unhealthy -0.769, which means, even after winning their two matches, they would need favours from other teams.

However, Klusener said the focus is on winning matches and hoped the rest will fall into place. “We have got two games to go. It doesn’t really matter what’s happened in the past, whether we’ve won or lost, it makes no difference to us. We are focusing on the next two games and how best we can get over the line in both of them. Whether, we then qualify or not, I guess, that’s of our making from the way we played. But, our focus really is just to get over the line tomorrow and then we will worry about Mumbai after that,” the assistant coach explained.

Only the Kolkata Knight Riders have confirmed their place in the IPL 2024 playoffs, with the Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad being the next teams in a better position.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals have their tasks cut out, while Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, who were the runners-up last season, have been eliminated from the IPL 2024 play-offs race.