KL Rahul responds to LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka’s ‘team before personal goals' remark after IPL 2025 retention
KL Rahul has responded to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka's remark over retaining players who have the 'mindset to win' and put 'team before personal goals'. While many fans and critics reckon that Goenka's statement was an indirect dig at Rahul, the former LSG skipper downplayed the comment.
Lucknow Super Giants retained Nicolas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction while releasing Rahul. Following the retention announcement, LSG franchise owner Goenka commented:
"We had a very simple mindset to go in with players who have a mindset to win, who put the team before their personal goals and aspirations. And we wanted to retain as much core as possible within our available purse."
During an nterview with Star Sports, Rahul was asked for his reaction on Goenka's remark. Without much fuss, he replied
"No, I mean this decision was made already. I don't know what the comments are, but they must have come after the announcement of the retentions were made."
Incidentally, a video of Goenka having a heated exchange with Rahul during IPL 2024 went viral on social media, indicating that the LSG owner was not quite pleased with the way the franchise was performing.
"For a new franchise, we put in some special performances" - Rahul reflects on IPL journey with LSG
While Lucknow Super Giants finished a disappointing seventh in IPL 2024, they made the playoffs in the previous two seasons, although they failed to go all the way. Rahul was appointed captain of the new franchise that debuted in 2022 along with Gujarat Titans (GT). Looking back at his journey with LSG, the 32-year-old asserted that he is proud of what he and the team have managed to achieve.
"It was an amazing experience for me to start a team from scratch. I was part of the auction strategy all three years. Everything that happened at the franchise, I had a say in. We build the team between Andy Flower, Gautam Gambhir, me. We three were there for the first two seasons," Rahul said.
"I don't think we had many big names in the team, but we found a way to win IPL games and make the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn't go through in both the years. But, I feel we did exceptionally well with the kind of team that we had. For a new franchise, we put in some special performances and those two years were something that I am very proud of," he concluded.
Rahul is Lucknow Super Giants' leading run-getter in the IPL. In 38 matches across three seasons, he scored 1,410 runs at an average of 41.47 and a strike rate of 130.67 with two hundreds and 10 fifties.