KL Rahul Meets Lucknow Super Giants Owner Sanjiv Goenka; Here’s What LSG Captain Expressed Before IPL 2025 Auction

New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul met franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka in Kolkata on Monday and expressed his desire to be retained ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction that is likely to take place at the end of the year. However, no assurances have been given to the senior batter from the top boss. IPL 2024 didn’t end on a happy note for LSG. They missed the playoffs spot due to net run rate while Rahul and Goenka’s animated chat after the loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad went viral.

In fact, it was Rahul who led the side to the playoffs in the first two seasons in 2022 and 2023. It was also widely believed that Gautam Gambhir’s strategic acumen had a lot to do with their playoffs qualification in the first two years which got thoroughly exposed in the third season. Gambhir joined Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024.

“Yes, Rahul came to Kolkata and met Dr Goenka at RPG head office. He has clearly told Dr Goenka that he wants to be retained. However, till BCCI comes up with retention policy, LSG management wouldn’t want to chalk out their plans,” an IPL Governing Council member was quoted as saying to PTI.

“Look, Rahul wants retention but till LSG knows how many are to be retained and what’s the new purse, they can’t commit anyone,” the source added. It can be said that even if Rahul is retained by LSG, chances of which are minimal at the moment, he won’t be the first retention.

Retaining someone like Rahul as first option could mean a sum of Rs 18 to 20 crore (if team purse is increased) would be deducted from auction purse. No franchises, currently looking at X factor players at the top, would invest that much on Rahul.

If Royal Challengers Bengaluru were serious about taking him back, he wouldn’t have come to Kolkata on his own accord. It is believed that Rahul hasn’t exactly got many franchises interested with his style of batting, which is sadly outdated in T20 cricket.

Last but not the least, unlike MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or even Rishabh Pant or Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul can’t actually pull in a lot of team sponsorship. Hence Rahul might have to go back into auction where he might not be a very sought after name.

It is also understood that LSG’s deal with Zaheer Khan has been finalised and he will be unveiled as a mentor soon.