"To see an Indian player like that is quite disrespectful"- Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh on LSG owner and KL Rahul's exchange
Former Indian cricketers Ambati Rayudu and Harbhajan Singh gave their opinion on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka having an animated chat with skipper KL Rahul after their loss to the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). In a video that has gone viral on social media, fans have been questioning Goenka for his reaction and have sympathized with Rahul.
Rayudu believes it is high time that players should be protected from having direct contact with the stakeholders of franchises and suggested appointing a cricket manager for the same.
Responding to a Sportskeeda query on the ongoing debate about the conversation between Goenka and KL Rahul, here's what Ambati Rayudu said on Star Sports Press Room:
"To see an Indian player like that is quite disrespectful towards the player because we know we give everything. It was very emotional moment to see KL Rahul like that in the video. I feel that this has been happening for a long time with so many teams and Indian players need to appoint a cricketing manager for every team*. There should be a bridge between the owners, the cricketing management and the players."
Rayudu also added a tongue-in-cheek reply to showcase his sense of humor.
"Maybe Rahul was telling the owner that Hyderabad biryani is better than Lucknow Biryani (laughs)." Maybe that's what the conversation is about," he continued.
KL Rahul seemed rattled during the conversation with the LSG owner and understandably so as his team had just conceded a target of 166 in just 9.4 overs, thanks to a blitzkrieg from Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head.
Harbhajan Singh also gave his opinion on LSG owner's chat with KL Rahul
Harbhajan Singh feels that after a devastating loss like that, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka needed to give KL Rahul some space to gather his thoughts. He shed light on how anger got the better of him when he was a player and feels that it is something that should be avoided in conversations.
On this, Harbhajan stated on the same Press Room:
"When a captain is walking out after a loss like that, he is already short for words. He doesn't know what to do next. At such times, anger makes things worse. *As a captain and as a player I have done many mistakes in anger* and I would say that postmortem brings out nothing but anger. So we need to control that."
Harbhajan Singh also claimed that the conversation should have taken place behind closed doors, an opinion several other cricketing experts had also shared. It will be interesting to see if Rahul's confidence as a player and a leader has been affected after LSG's loss against SRH.