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KL Rahul (Source: X)
KL Rahul was rumoured to leave Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) after last year's dreadful campaign. However, his recent meeting with franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka has led to fresh reports that the star batter is likely to spend another season with the Lucknow-based franchise.
Goenka and the team captain had a heated exchange following LSG's loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2024. The two had their first formal interaction on Monday (August 26) at the franchise's Kolkata office. As per the latest update, Rahul is likely to be retained by LSG for the next IPL edition. However, he is unlikely to lead the team and will instead contribute as a batter.
It is not sure whether Rahul himself is stepping down as captain or the management has asked him to do so. However, according to the source, the veteran Indian cricketer will concentrate more on his batting from next season without the pressure of captaincy.
“The meeting was official with the CEO Sanjiv Goenka on Monday, the captaincy and retention topics were discussed. However, Rahul is unlikely to captain the side in the upcoming edition as he wants to explore himself more as a batter. Goenka has full confidence in Rahul and he will be retained as a player, but will not be seen captaining the side,” sources close to LSG told IANS.
Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran frontrunners for LSG captaincy
The source added that they are still exploring the captaincy option but two big names - Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran - are in the running. Notably, Pandya has led LSG in a few matches in Rahul's absence in previous seasons, while Pooran has led his national side in the T20I format.
“We are still exploring the captaincy option but with BCCI agreeing on player retention conditions we have two players (Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Poran) in race,” he added.
LSG finished seventh in the points table in IPL 2024 with 14 points. Rahul's captaincy was questioned throughout and he also failed to lead the team from the front. Although the keeper-batter scored 520 runs in 14 matches, it came at an average of 37.14 and did not help the team much.