"You are earning a 400-crore profit"- Virender Sehwag questions LSG owner for his reaction to KL Rahul and co.'s IPL 2024 loss against SRH
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag believes Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka had no business in having an animated conversation with his captain KL Rahul after the team's loss against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2024. Goenka was seen having an seemingly heated discussion with Rahul after the game in a video that went viral on social media.
Several cricket experts and fans have questioned Goenka's reaction and felt that the talk could have happened behind closed doors. However, Sehwag claimed that the Lucknow owner shouldn't have any say in the cricketing matters as the owners' focus is often on profit.
Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz about Sanjiv Goenka's viral video with KL Rahul:
"These are all businessmen. They only understand profit and loss. But here, there is no loss, so what's bothering them? You are earning a 400-crore profit. I mean, this is a business where you have to do nothing at all. You have guys to take care of that, and irrespective of what happens, you are earning profit."
LSG's net run rate has been severely damaged after SRH managed to chase down the target of 166 in just 9.4 overs.
Virender Sehwag feels owners should only motivate players
Virender Sehwag opined that instead of having an apparent heated discussion, owners like LSG's need to talk to players only if they feel they can motivate them.
He believes owners run the risk of losing their star players due to a fallout and stated: (as per the aforementioned source)
"What happens is that the player will think that there are other franchises in the IPL, if I leave, someone else will take me. And if you lose a player, your chances of winning are zero. When I left Punjab, they were fifth. They never came fifth in any other seasons."
There have been several reports of KL Rahul potentially stepping down from captaincy for LSG's final two IPL 2024 league games against the Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians.
It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change between Rahul and Goenka after the entire saga.