Well, KL Rahul has made it clear. The reason behind his exit from the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) was his fractured relationship with franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka. The captain, who took the helm when LSG joined the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2022, wasn’t retained, with Nicholas Pooran being named the top retention for the 2025 season.
The KL Rahul-Sanjiv Goenka saga
Of course, nothing about it was really shocking. Ever since Goenka publicly chided Rahul following a tough loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, things never really got better between them. It was reported at the time that Rahul would leave LSG at the moment but was convinced not to.
They then met each other when LSG announced Zaheer Khan as their mentor for the IPL 2025 season in August. Goenka at the time said Rahul was like family but didn’t confirm whether he’d stay with the franchise. At the mega auction, Goenka didn’t bid for Rahul even once, despite the latter getting sold for just Rs 14 crore, three crore less than what LSG was paying him.
KL Rahul shows no love to LSG owner
Earlier today (November 27), Rahul shared a heartfelt message for LSG. He thanked the coaches, teammates, and fans who made his Lucknow journey special. But Goenka’s name was nowhere to be found. In complete contrast, Rishabh Pant and Delhi Capitals (DC) co-owner Parth Jindal specially posted online thanking each other.
The two wicketkeepers are making a switch, with Pant going to LSG and Rahul to DC. One has to think that Rahul’s relationship with Kiran Grandhi, who’ll take over DC until IPL 2026, will be better, especially considering what it was with Goenka.
LSG squad for IPL 2025
Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Aryan Jural, Akash Deep, Himmat Singh, Digvesh Singh, M Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shamar Joseph, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh
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