Lucknow Super Giants owner non-committal on KL Rahul’s retention in team

Lucknow Super Giants franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka remained non committal on player retention and captaincy, including KL Rahul’s retention, for the next season of the Indian Premier League.

Sanjiv Goenka and captain KL Rahul had an animated and a heated discussion after Lucknow Super Giants’ 10-wicket drubbing in the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad during 2024 season and both the owner and the captain haven’t been on cordial terms since then, according to reports.

However, Rahul met Goenka in Kolkata and expressed his desire to continue with Lucknow Super Giants, however, the team owner remained non committal when asked about Rahul’s retention. “I’ve been meeting KL (Rahul) regularly over the last three years. I’m a little surprised this meeting got so much attention. As I’ve said we have not taken any call till the retention rules are out. KL has been an integral and important part of the LSG family since inception. He’s played a very important role. He’s like family and will be family,” Goenka told the media after announcing Zaheer Khan as the mentor of the franchise.

LSG came into the IPL fold in 2022 and made the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 under Rahul’s captaincy and Gautam Gambhir’s mentorship. However, after Gambhir left the franchise in 2023 and moved to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Lucknow Super Giants were found wanting in leadership skills behind the scenes and did not make the playoffs in the 2024 edition.

Gambhir, who moved to KKR, helped them win their third IPL title. Gambhir has now left the IPL bandwagon and has aligned with the Indian cricket team as their head coach.

Speaking on player retention and the mega auction, Goenka said the think-tank is yet to arrive at a concrete game plan and added that they would take a call after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) releases the rules with respect to player retention.

The BCCI and the IPL organising committee met all the team owners in August and held discussions with them regarding player retention, right to match options and mega auctions. “We have all of September, October and November to decide that (on players and auction). Let the policies be out. We have not even thought about the team going forward, whether retention will be three-four-five or six, we have no clue,” Goenka said.

The team owner said they wouldn’t want to make decisions in haste that would affect the team in the long run. “Let us see, there is enough time, so bit by bit. Whatever decisions we take today will impact us for the medium term future, so it has to be very well thought out and considered. There is enough time for it so it’s too early. Let the BCCI announce the policy first, then there will be discussions,” Goenka concluded.