KL Rahul, the captain of Lucknow Super Giants since IPL 2022, will not be retained by the franchise and is all set to participate in the upcoming mega auction ahead of the 2025 season.
Will Rahul be among the retained LSG players? Do you no longer want to stay in the group? Will they reserve him but not make him captain? That had been one of the questions raised since LSG finished seventh in IPL 2024 and then made the playoffs in its first two seasons.
Rahul is LSG’s top scorer for 3 seasons. He was the second highest run-scorer in IPL 2022 with 616 runs, before missing the second part of the 2023 season with a surprise, but was again LSG’s highest run-scorer in 2024 with 520 runs. On the other hand, since Rahul’s run count has always been high, his strike rate, which was 136.12 in IPL 2024, has frequently come under scrutiny, especially as the league has spotted scoring rates much higher in the last two seasons. .
Later, LSG suffered a crushing defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka could be seen chatting animatedly with Rahul in the garden. Goenka’s exchange with Rahul, which was detectable on television, ended in speculations about Rahul’s outdoor date even though the LSG owner is supposed to have told the group on that occasion that he was disappointed by the kind of defeat. Towards SRH, his conversation with Rahul was friendly.
At a match in Kolkata in August to announce former Republic of India fast bowler Zaheer Khan as LSG coach, Goenka called Rahul “family” even though he did not commit to player retention.
It is understood that during a recent meeting with LSG owners, Rahul had not committed to whether a retention swap was made. ESPNcricinfo found out that a final decision will be made in a few days.
October 31 is the deadline by which all 10 franchises want to release their lists of players retained in the IPL. Teams were allowed to accumulate up to six players ahead of the mega auction ahead of the 2025 season, of which a maximum of five will also be internationals.
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