New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and KL Rahul have decided to part ways ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Rahul led LSG for three IPL seasons but now it is clear that he will wear a new jersey in the upcoming season.
The Lucknow-based franchise have retained West Indian batter Nicholas Pooran, pace sensation Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi and uncapped players Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan. Rahul has scored more than 1200 runs for LSG in 38 matches. He scored 520 runs in the 14 matches at a strike rate of 136.13 last season.
With big players like Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer coming in the mega auction, LSG is looking for a fresh start under a new leader. After the IPL 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, TV cameras captured LSG owner Sajiv Goenka having an animated discussion with KL Rahul. SRH defeated LSG by 10 wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and after that, the LSG owner looked quite angry during a chat with Rahul.
LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka takes a brutal dig at KL Rahul
As soon as LSG announced their retained players, franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka took a dig at KL Rahul. In a video message on Star Sports, he explained the reason behind retaining Pooran, Bishnoi, Mayank, Badoni and Mohsin. He said that the franchise wanted to retain players who put the team before their personal milestones.
“It was a simple mindset to go in with players who have a mindset to win, who put the team first before their personal goals and personal aspirations and we wanted to retain as much as of core we could” said Sanjiv Goenka on Star Sports.
“Keeping it simple was the key.”
With @LucknowIPL announcing their retentions for #IPL2025, #LSG owner #SanjivGoenka shares insights into the thinking behind their picks
LIVE NOW 👉 #IPLRetentionsOnStar! | #IPLRetentions #TATAIPL2025 #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/o4rQZfbE7k
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 31, 2024
He also said that Nicholas Pooran was an automatic choice and it happened within like two minutes. Goenka further added Justin Langer, Zaheer Khan and the analyst were involved in the retaining process.
“Our first retention which was an automatic choice, happened within like less than two minutes. We have two uncapped retentions that is Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni. It was a process that Zaheer Khan, Justin Langer and the analyst were involved in” he added.
