The deadline for announcing your retention list for IPL 2025 is October 31, and don’t be surprised KL Rahul isn’t found on it. The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) don’t want to retain their captain before the mega auction. LSG management, their mentor Zaheer Khan, and head coach Justin Langer have decided that Rahul hasn’t been pulling his weight when it comes to batting and that his intent and strike rate are an issue.
KL Rahul loses strike rate debate
Experts and fans have been raising concerns over KL Rahul’s slow play, but it seemed that LSG kept turning a blind eye towards the issue. One must mention that LSG’s owner, Sanjiv Goenka, had a verbal spat with Rahul last season after a devasting loss to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both have since claimed there is no issue between them, but one has to wonder how much factor they played in LSG moving ahead of KL Rahul. The source also stated that LSG would still bid for him at the IPL 2025 mega auction.
“The LSG management, including mentor Zaheer Khan and coach Justin Langer, has analysed his stats and it has emerged that the team has almost lost all matches where KL has batted long and scored runs. That indicates that his strike rate doesn’t match the momentum of the game. With the Impact Player rule, the scores are getting higher. You can’t afford to have someone taking so much time at the top of the order,” IPL sources told the Times of India.
Bishnoi, Pooran & Mayank: LSG’s top retentions
The sources also indicate that LSG wants to retain five players: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni, and Mohsin Khan. The West Indian has already led the franchise once, and like KL Rahul, he is a wicketkeeper batter. Pooran is a seasoned franchise player and is LSG’s fourth-highest scorer. Similarly, Bishnoi is their highest wicket-taker and has been instrumental in them reaching two playoffs.
As for Mayank, despite him losing the uncapped player pacer, LSG is looking to retain the speedster. This means that they’ll spend at least Rs 11 crore on the youngster, but they are up for it. “Mayank is LSG’s find. They invested in him when no one knew of him, and he has shown what kind of impact he can have on a match,” IPL sources added.
Badoni and Mohsin have impressed as well, and we are retaining them for Rs 4 crore each as uncapped players. There aren’t too many Indian finishers or left-arm pacers who can bowl 140+ in the market, and investing in them would be in the best interest of LSG.
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